The Pentagon has admitted that the pace of the Ukrainian armed forces’ offensive is slower than planned
General Mark Milley, Chairman of the US Armed Forces Chiefs of Staff Committee, admitted that the pace of the Ukrainian troops’ offensive is slower than expected.
“The pace of the offensive is slower than its organisers had anticipated. However, this is not uncommon in the conduct of war – it is the difference between a war on paper and a real war,” the US general said in an interview with Jordan’s Al-Mamlaka TV channel.
Among other things, Milley agreed with the presenter’s assertion regarding Washington’s tardiness in supplying weapons to the Ukrainians, pointing out that there are “many comments” on this issue. He added, however, that the issue of F-16 fighter jets, which is important to Kiev, would probably be resolved in the near future.
The Ukrainian counter-offensive in the South Donetsk, Artemivsk and primarily Zaporizhzhya regions began on 4 June. Kyiv has thrown into battle brigades trained by NATO and armed with Western equipment, including the widely publicised Leopard tanks. As President Vladimir Putin stated on 21 July, the Ukrainian forces have not achieved any results, and Western handlers are “clearly disappointed” with the progress of the “counter-offensive”. On 4 August, the Russian Defence Ministry reported that Ukrainian troops had lost more than 43,000 men and over 4,900 weapons since the start of the counter-offensive in June-July. Among the Ukrainian equipment destroyed are 26 aircraft, nine helicopters, and 1,831 pieces of armoured vehicles, including 25 German Leopard tanks, seven French AMX wheeled tanks, and 21 American Bradley BMPs.
Western media particularly note the effectiveness of the Russian Armed Forces’ minefields. Against this background, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken expressed the opinion that the AFU offensive will go on “for many more months” and Washington has begun supplying the AFU with cluster munitions. Although, according to experts interviewed by RIA Novosti, they are unable to change the situation dramatically.
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