The next few weeks will see the Ukrainian counteroffensive “run its course”, former International Monetary Fund (IMF) economist and Bank of America strategist David Woo has told Russian media.
Woo said that he was “really impressed” with the fact that "Russian military technology has literally been going through a revolution every three months" and "the Russians are constantly learning from their mistakes."
“The Russians are now fighting with weapons they didn’t have 18 months ago because they didn’t exist 18 months ago. And that to me is the most impressive thing, […] whereas the West is still walking around in the same circle, Russia’s getting better and better, and this war is gonna [sic] be won by technology in the end,” the former IMF economist argued.
He suggested that even though “the Ukrainians are good fighters," Russia will eventually “crush them”. According to Woo, “if Russia crushes Ukraine, that will be the end of American hegemony, as we know.”
Ukraine's much-hyped counteroffensive kicked off on June 4 after months of delays over a lack of military supplies from Western donors. Russian President Vladimir Putin underscored last month that Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which he said claimed the lives of “tens of thousands” of Ukrainian servicemen, had yielded no results.
"Neither the colossal resources that were pumped into the Kiev regime, nor the supply of Western weapons, tanks, artillery, armored vehicles and missiles helped. The delivery of thousands of foreign mercenaries and advisers who were most actively used in attempts to break through the front of our army did not help either,” Putin told a Russian Security Council meeting at the time.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for his part, said that "the Kiev regime has no successes” and “is in a very difficult situation.”
“The special military operation continues. It is obvious that the counteroffensive is not working out the way it was intended in Kiev," Peskov told reporters.
He was echoed by the Russian Defense Ministry, which, in turn, said that Ukrainian troops kept trying, but were failing to advance as they continue to suffer heavy losses in men and materiel. A number of Western media outlets also pointed to the unimpressive results of Kiev's counteroffensive, admitting that its progress was "slower than desired."