Ukraine has asked critics of the pace of its three-month-old counter-offensive to “shut up”, in a clear sign of Kiev’s discontent with leaked statements by Western officials who say its forces are advancing too slowly.
Since Ukraine launched a counterattack using billions of dollars’ worth of Western military equipment, it has recaptured more than a dozen villages, but it has yet to penetrate major Russian defences.
Last week, reports in the “New York Times” and “Washington Post” and other media outlets quoted US and Western officials as saying that the attack did not live up to expectations, and some criticized Kiev’s strategy and accused it of concentrating its forces in the wrong places.
Moscow says the Ukrainian offensive has already failed, while Ukrainian leaders maintain that they are moving deliberately slowly to weaken Russian defenses and supplies, and to minimize casualties when they eventually attack with full force.
Ukraine war.. Kiev is advancing on the southern front
“Criticizing the slow pace of the counterattack means spitting in the face of the Ukrainian soldier who, risking his life every day, is advancing and liberating kilometer after kilometer of Ukrainian territory,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters Thursday.
As he said during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Spain: “I advise all critics to shut up, come to Ukraine and try to free one square centimeter themselves.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN that Ukrainian leaders are trustworthy.
“The Ukrainians have repeatedly exceeded expectations. We have to trust them. We advise, help and support. But it is the Ukrainians who should make these decisions,” he added.
Ukraine.. Military production by NATO standards
field situation
Kiev rarely provides details of its offensive operations, but after months during which Ukrainian forces fought their way through dense minefields, they finally reached the main Russian defensive lines in the past days south of the village of Robotin, which they seized last week in the western Zaporizhia region. Troops are now advancing between the nearby villages of Novopokrupivka and Verbov, looking for a way around the anti-tank trenches and rows of concrete pyramids known as “dragon’s teeth” that make up Russia’s main fortifications and can be seen from space. A Ukrainian commander in the region told Reuters last week that the forces had broken through the most difficult defensive lines and reached areas where their defenses were lower, and the forces were now expected to advance more quickly, which Reuters could not independently verify. In a statement Thursday, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hana Malyar said that Ukrainian forces had achieved success near Novopokrupivka, without going into details. It also reported that Ukrainian forces are advancing near Bakhmut in the east, the only city that Russia took control of during its offensive that began in February 2022. The commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Oleksandr Sersky, spoke of “positive movements” near Bakhmut.
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2023-08-31 23:59:04
