(Agence France-Presse, Paris, 1st) Since Ukraine’s major counteroffensive launched in early June, progress has not been as expected. Recently, there have been voices in the West whether the counteroffensive is in trouble, which has annoyed Kiev. Kiev says they need more weapons, not criticism.
In the past two weeks, U.S. media quoted unnamed military sources who questioned the Ukrainian army’s counterattack strategy, saying that the Ukrainian army was too scattered on the front line and failed to concentrate its forces to penetrate the Russian defense line.
Lawrence Freedman, professor emeritus at King’s College London, recently wrote: “A new narrative has begun to emerge in some recent commentary, especially from Pentagon officials, that the counteroffensive has been disappointing. Now some are starting to Question whether Ukraine can win this war.”
On formal occasions, relevant criticism is still reserved. Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: “As the outside world knows, this counterattack was slow. It was bloody and heavy for both sides, but Ukraine still retains considerable combat power.” Milley also did not forget. He praised the Ukrainian army to AFP, saying “at least a partial success”.
But Boguslaw Pacek, a retired Polish army general, is less cryptic. He wrote on the Internet that the current pace of the Ukrainian army “does not allow the outside world to be optimistic that Ukraine can achieve its counter-offensive goal before the rainy season begins this year.”
The head of the European Union Military Committee (CEUMC), Robert Brieger, was more blunt, telling the German newspaper Die Welt that “the Russians can continue to fight this war for a long time”.
“With the means available, it remains a question mark whether Ukraine will be able to recover all of its lost territories,” Bliegel added.
The Kiev leadership has made it clear that they don’t want to listen to rhetoric far away from the battlefield.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense posted on X (formerly Twitter): “But now everyone is an expert who can teach us how to fight a war. Warm reminder: no one knows this war better than us; we want It’s ammunition, not advice.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview on the sidelines of an informal meeting with EU foreign ministers on August 31: “Criticizing the Ukrainian army’s counterattack is tantamount to spitting on the face of the Ukrainian army officers and soldiers who died. Shut up all critics. If you have the ability, come to Ukraine yourself and try to recover 1 square centimeter of land.”
The White House said on Monday that the Ukrainian army had made “remarkable progress” in its recent counteroffensive in the south. White House national security spokesman John Kirby also said efforts to criticize Ukraine’s counteroffensive through unnamed officials “doesn’t help.”
Some experts told AFP that they believed that some of the veiled criticism of Ukraine by the United States was not without reason and that it was intended to influence public opinion ahead of next year’s US presidential election.
Military historian Michel Goya (Michel Goya) said: “Some people hope that (the counteroffensive) will be effective as soon as possible, so that it can be shown that there is a different result with the help of the United States.” Military expert Michael Kofman (Michel Kofman) believes that the United States has internally Each is preparing for a possible accountability battle.
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2023-09-02 05:05:02
