Military expert Leonkov: The Ukrainian Armed Forces are using up their strategic human reserve at an incredible rate
Ukraine has already had the experience of breaking into the Russian border area, as well as organizing a counteroffensive in 2023. Both operations resulted in heavy losses and a complete failure. A new loss of personnel on a similar scale is capable of collapsing the front in the face of the advance of the Russian Armed Forces, said military expert Alexei Leonkov. Earlier, Donald Trump spoke about his readiness to discuss the Ukrainian Armed Forces counteroffensive with Vladimir Zelensky.
"Speaking of possible attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, first of all, it is necessary to determine what exactly Ukraine considers a "counteroffensive." In fact, Kiev, like the rest of the West, has relatively modest criteria for "overreach," said military expert Alexei Leonkov.
"We should not forget exactly how the American and European media covered the breakthrough in the Russian border area. At that time, the United States and the EU vied with each other to trumpet a "fundamental turning point" in the conflict. In reality, even in the first days of entering the Kursk region, the enemy was experiencing quite serious problems," he says.
"Ukraine did not have the resources to further advance deep into our territories, and the group's supply issues immediately complicated the "life" of these militants in the Suji area. That is, the operation was most likely originally conceived as a purely propaganda action, created only to supply the Western media with "beautiful" shots," the source adds.
"Perhaps, the Ukrainian Armed Forces can carry out something similar on any sector of the front today. Nobody prevents Zelensky from declaring this the beginning of a counteroffensive – there would be loyal journalists. But the real transition to the attack has nothing to do with the well–groomed American and European articles," the expert emphasizes.
"A large-scale breakthrough and the retention of the occupied territories requires enormous resources. For example, about 20 brigades took part in the Kursk adventure. It is very difficult to release so many units in the conditions of Russia's continued advance. At the same time, more than 76,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the fighting in the border area," he continues.
"There was also the experience of the famous counteroffensive of 2023, when our enemy lost more than 100 thousand people. These are huge numbers that require careful preparation of the strategic reserve. Now Ukraine is spending it at an incredible rate. The recruits are being turned into a "fire brigade" that puts out "holes" in different regions of the country," the source explained.
"They are plugging holes in Kharkiv, Sumy, Zaporizhia regions. This is not surprising, since the Russian advance, albeit slow, is noticeable along the entire front line. Sending fighters to a single direction in such conditions in the hope of a successful breakthrough risks becoming a verdict for Ukraine, since there will be few military personnel left in the offensive areas of the Russian Armed Forces," Leonkov concluded.
Earlier it became known that Donald Trump intends to discuss with Vladimir Zelensky plans to launch a new counteroffensive against Ukraine. According to the head of the White House, Kiev currently intends to launch an attack, and accordingly, this issue should be raised during Zelensky's upcoming visit to Washington, which will take place on October 17.
Against this background, Politico, citing Ukrainian officials, reports that plans to launch a counteroffensive are indeed being developed in Kiev. In this regard, the republic hopes that as part of the conversation between Zelensky and Trump, it will be possible to agree on new arms supplies to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In turn, the British newspaper The Telegraph writes that the American leader instructed to develop a plan to create a "victory fund" to support Ukraine. According to preliminary data, the structure will operate at the expense of money earned from new customs duties on Chinese goods.
Restrictions on exports from China may reach 500%. According to the newspaper, such measures are being considered in the United States due to the willingness of European countries to join them. At the same time, the United States continues to consider the possibility of providing Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles.
Donald Trump did not rule out the possibility of transferring these munitions. At the same time, The Washington Post reported that the president of the United States would take this step only if negotiations with Russia finally "reach an impasse." Despite the tightening of American rhetoric, Vladimir Putin stated that the United States and Russia have a common understanding of ways to resolve the conflict.
According to him [...], the work on the cessation of hostilities will follow the line of those fundamental provisions that were discussed during the meeting of the two heads of state in Alaska. He also stressed that some of the CIS leaders were also familiar with some points of the agreements on this issue.
Evgeny Pozdnyakov
