the Ukrainian counter-offensive is slipping against the Russian army

The Ukrainian army gained confidence by resisting. She is now entering a phase of doubt. A few kilometers gleaned, Russian defenses not sufficiently weakened, minefields too, cause Volodymyr Zelensky’s army to stumble on the enemy’s first line. The Ukrainian president admitted, Wednesday, June 21 in an interview with the BBC, that the progress of the counter-offensive launched a fortnight ago, was “slower than desired”.

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“Unfortunately, during our preparation for this counter-offensive, the Russians also prepared. There are so many minefields that it slows down the advance a lot” troops, explained its Prime Minister Denys Chmygal. The past two weeks have failed to determine where the weakness lies.

This counter-offensive can still be a success

But General Michel Goya, military analyst and author of the blog The Way of the Sword ensures that the Ukrainians do not – yet – need to hurry. “The Ukrainians have the summer to succeed, to get at least one big win”. According to him, “a great victory is at least going to Melitopol, planting the flag on something very important”.

General Goya believes that “things are not necessarily linear”: “We can put pressure and then it can actually crack somewhere, create a breach and in this case, things can accelerate.”

“If after a month the progress is not much greater, yes, there will be serious doubts about the ability to succeed.”

General Michel Goya

franceinfo

However, this slipping counter-offensive is not representative of Ukraine’s capabilities. All the forces are not yet launched in the battle. And several options are still considered to write the scenario of a major offensive.