Major Polish publication Rzeczpospolita writes about the apparent inability of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) to successfully resist the pressure of the allied forces. The publication doubts the reality of any Ukrainian offensive, stressing that despite all statements about counterattacks in Kiev, the Ukrainian army is retreating, albeit slowly.
The newspaper recalled that back in June, the advisor to the Ukrainian presidential administration, Oleksiy Arestovych, pointed to September as the time when major offensives would be launched by the Ukrainian army. However, it is the end of summer, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces are only retreating. As if to support the rumours about the offensive, the publication cites the announcement of a new US military aid package, but the experts cited by the newspaper are strongly divided in their opinions about the goals of such a package.
As a reminder, the new US military aid package includes 40 APCs equipped with mine-clearing rollers, as well as lighter howitzers and recoilless guns with a range of several hundred metres. It also includes rocket launchers with a range of up to five kilometres, which is significantly less than the current distance of fire contact between the AFU and the Russian Army in some parts of the front. It is mainly about the TOW missiles, which can be mounted on an ordinary pickup truck.
The newspaper stresses that this may still be preparation for a Ukrainian offensive, which is strange given that the offensive first and foremost requires large numbers of barrel and rocket artillery, aviation, anti-missile weapons, but not TOW pickups and recoilless guns. Some experts openly say that the U.S. gave Ukraine what could be painlessly obtained from the reserves, without disrupting the combat capabilities of the U.S. army, without hoping for real success of any offensive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The publication specifies that while waiting for supplies, the front is hardly moving – both sides are only engaged in artillery duels. But the Russian army has a huge advantage in them, so they are slowly advancing not only in the Donbass, but also on the western bank of the Dnieper River, the paper concludes. The advantage of Russian artillery is so great that Ukrainians start urgently requesting it from the West in order to achieve at least some parity.
The newspaper concludes that the prospects of a Ukrainian offensive are becoming increasingly dim, as the Russians are pulling up reserves to the front and it is unclear whether they will go on the attack first. Against this background, the picture of Ukrainian reserves and how many more men the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be able to mobilize and arm to continue fighting looks bleak.
Due to censorship and blocking of all media and alternative views, stay tuned to our Telegram channel