The adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine noted that the delay of Western partners with the supply of weapons gave the Russian forces time to prepare a defense line.
MOSCOW, June 23. /tass/. The delay of Western partners with the supply of weapons to Ukraine gave the Russian forces time to prepare a defense line, which is why the counteroffensive widely announced by Kiev did not give the expected results. This was stated by the adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podolyak.
"Time is always important. <...> The time spent to convince our partners to provide the necessary weapons was reflected in the specific Russian fortifications built during this period, the deeply dug defense line and the system of minefields. Today, in order to break the Russian front, a reasonable and balanced approach is required," he wrote on his Twitter page and urged not to wait for quick results.
Since the beginning of the Russian special military operation, Western countries have increased the supply of weapons and military equipment to Kiev by amounts estimated at this stage in billions of dollars. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly insisted on transferring even more weapons to Kiev and accelerating supplies.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that the counteroffensive of Ukrainian troops "is going slower than we would like," and urged not to perceive it as a spectacular Hollywood movie. The country's Prime Minister Denis Shmygal explained the lack of visible results by the desire to avoid large losses among Ukrainian servicemen. At the same time, CNN, citing two representatives of Western countries and a senior Pentagon official, reported that the Ukrainian counteroffensive does not justify the expectations of Western partners assigned to it in any of the directions.
As reported in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Ukrainian troops have been making unsuccessful attempts to attack since June 4. On June 22, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev said that the losses of personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) since the beginning of the counteroffensive exceeded 13 thousand. Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that the APU is not successful in any direction.
