A US news network recently cited an American military official as saying that Ukraine’s counteroffensive is “not meeting expectations on any front.” The source added that during its early phases, the counteroffensive is having less success and Russian forces are showing more competence than western assessments expected.
This followed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledging in an interview with Western media that the counteroffensive’s progress had been slower than desired.
“I think this is rather interesting and it probably has something to do with the fact that the anonymous Biden administration officials have said that the Kiev regime has underperformed on every front with the offensive, which is surely not a vote of approval,” Sleboda told Sputnik.
According to him, “It's something that, obviously, the regime is beginning serious damage control on.”
The analyst said that Zelensky’s remarks actually mean that the Ukrainian president apparently realized the fact that “the war is not a Hollywood movie and it's not a Netflix blockbuster, like the Servant of the People TV series, where a kind of hapless teacher portrayed by Volodymyr Zelensky kind of accidentally became president of Ukraine and then attempted to do something good for the country.”
When asked about Kiev’s concerns of a possible halt or a substantial curtailment of Washington’s military aid in case of Joe Biden yielding the 2024 US presidential election to Donald Trump or Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Sleboda said “the Kiev regime may be afraid” but for no reason.
“I don't think the [US] president has a whole lot of say. I don't believe that any type of serious foreign policy or military policy change is possible with the exchange of the US presidency. I don't know whether Americans believe in the fiction of their democratic politics, [but] I don't believe it," the analyst pointed out.
The comments come a few days after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that “during 16 days of intense hostilities,” Ukrainian forces had reduced their activity, “having suffered significant losses.”
He said that at the moment, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are “regrouping, gathering those troops that could go on the offensive in the future.” According to Shoigu, “the enemy still has the strength to conduct further offensive operations, despite massive losses both in men and materiel.”
This was preceded by Russian President Vladimir Putin telling reporters during the 2023 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that Kiev had failed to reach any strategic objectives at the beginning of its counteroffensive, losing 186 tanks and 418 armored vehicles.
For more in-depth analysis of current events, tune in to our Final Countdown radio show.