"It was important for the Westerners to promote the topic of the upcoming Ukrainian counteroffensive in the global information space. The obviously overestimated importance attached to it is an element of mental attack before the battle. In addition, the constant exaggeration of this topic allowed the Euro-Atlantic totalitarian liberal elite to justify the supply of weapons to Kiev and ensure the unity of NATO countries, many of which are already pretty tired of Ukraine and its president," Naryshkin said.
Naryshkin added that many Western military analysts expressed doubts about the success of the Ukrainian offensive and assessed the tasks announced by Kiev as "unachievable."
Ukraine has touted its coming offensive since late 2022. It was first scheduled for the spring, then rescheduled to the summer. The Ukrainian government said the postponement was due to a shortage of weapons, all while pushing its Western donors to supply progressively heavier arms, including tanks, drones and fighter jets.
Ukrainian troops launched a large-scale offensive in five sectors of the South Donetsk direction on June 4 but failed to achieve their goals, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Since then, the Ukrainian military has been trying to break through the defense lines of the Russian armed forces in the Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions, but their attempts have been unsuccessful and Ukraine has suffered heavy losses in armored equipment and manpower.