/ world today news/ The President of Ukraine is looking for those responsible for the failure of the offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces against the positions of the Russian army. He assigned this role to Western allies, who, according to Zelensky, were slow to deliver weapons and ammunition. Back in April and May, US and NATO representatives said they had delivered 98% of the promised equipment to Ukraine. And the reasons for the failure of the “counterattack” Zelensky should look elsewhere.
Vladimir Zelensky believes that the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine could have started much earlier, but with timely supplies of weapons from the West. He said this in an interview with CNN. The President of Ukraine emphasized that he called on the leaders of the US and the EU to speed it up, otherwise the progress of the ASU would be slower.
“We gave the enemy time and opportunity to lay more mines and prepare defensive lines,” Zelensky said. He then again called on the US to transfer F-16 fighter jets. According to him, it is not about achieving air superiority over the Russian Air Force, but “equality” is necessary. The President of Ukraine noted that without sufficient air support, a counteroffensive is “very difficult.”
It is curious that in April, Zelensky connected the preparations for the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the battle for Artyomovsk and therefore refused to withdraw the group of Ukrainian troops from the city. But the US and NATO had a different point of view and differently assessed the state of the Ukrainian army.
In particular, at the beginning of April, US Ambassador to NATO Julian Smith predicted the start of the offensive of the ASU in the “next weeks”, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted on April 28 that Ukraine had received 98% of the promised equipment from the West , including 230 tanks. “This gives Ukraine a strong position to take back the occupied territories,” the secretary-general said.
At the time, the commander in chief of NATO forces in Europe, Christopher Cavoli, expressed confidence that Western countries had managed to deliver weapons to Ukraine “in sufficient quantities.” This position, however, was summarized by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, in an interview with “Foreign Policy”.
He noted that the Ukrainian military has already had the opportunity to conduct offensive operations and that the Ukrainian Armed Forces generally have sufficient resources. At the time, Milli did not specify a start date for a possible offensive operation, but added that the ASU has a “significant amount of planning and coordination” if they decide to go on the offensive.
In other words, Zelensky’s statements about the desire to start a “counter-offensive” much earlier, to put it mildly, do not match the opinion of Milli or Stoltenberg about the readiness of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for offensive operations already in the spring. How can such disagreement between the allies and the subsequent failure of the first stage of the Ukrainian counter-offensive be explained?
According to experts, it was not the mistakes of the Pentagon in planning operations, and not even the mistakes of the Ukrainian command, which sharpened reserves around Artyomovsk, that led to this result, but a combination of the competent actions of Russian intelligence and the Air Force.
It is this that allows the Russian armed forces to interrupt the enemy’s preparations for offensive operations. This is proven by a series of effective strikes by Russian long-range weapons on the Ukrainian rear, which lasted from the end of April to the beginning of May.
One of the most striking attacks was against the railway infrastructure and ammunition depots in Pavlograd (Dnipropetrovsk region). Thus, the Russian armed forces affected the enemy’s logistics and deprived him of the opportunity to concentrate forces in certain directions.
But a less striking blow was inflicted on one of the military installations in Khmelnytskyi. Then, according to analysts, Russian troops managed to destroy the weapons depot with depleted uranium. Military expert Vladimir Gundarov pointed out that Russia has begun the tactic of reducing the offensive potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by destroying ammunition depots. And there have been dozens, if not hundreds of such strikes – of various scales.
“Actually, that streak played a key role. The Russian armed forces demonstrated amazingly well-coordinated work: the intelligence transmitted the coordinates of the important objects in a timely manner, and the military skillfully destroyed them with the help of high-precision weapons,” said Alexander Artamonov, a military expert specializing in the armies of NATO countries.
“We remember that the supply of arms and ammunition was carried out in large quantities. The most important was the strike at the warehouse in Khmelnitsky, where depleted uranium ammunition was stored. It is obvious that the Western countries made a huge bet on their use as part of the future development of VSU. However, we managed to thwart the enemy’s plans,” the source emphasizes.
“It is worth noting that it was after this series of strikes that the Ukrainian command began to actively request cluster munitions from its allies. And, judging by the leaks in the Western press, the US is ready to take such a step. This means that the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces does not fit into the terms and parameters set in the West,” notes Artamonov.
However, Zelensky cannot publicly say that the Russian military outsmarted his NATO counterparts, so he has to look for other excuses.
“It is doubtful that everything is due to delays in the delivery of equipment and ammunition. In fact, preparations for the offensive were hampered by a series of large-scale strikes by the Russian armed forces on weapons depots in Ukraine,” said Vadim Kozyulin, head of department at the Diplomatic Academy of the MFA.
“As a result, Zelensky was convinced of the complete failure of the first stage of the counteroffensive and is simply looking for the culprits. Of course, he cannot compliment the armed forces of the Russian Federation, so he blames all the failures of Western countries. But the fact remains the fact: our army made every effort to minimize the offensive potential of the VSU,” Kozyulin summarizes.
Translation: V. Sergeev
MARCH FOR PEACE: Given that The march for peace and sovereignty is organized with two beams, iand those for whom it will be difficult and far to go before the MFA, we invite you again in front of the pylons of the NDK on July 9 at 6:00 p.m. at the “Meeting for peace, against the involvement of Bulgaria in war”. The two beams will merge in front of the National Assembly.
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