Huge funds have been invested in Ukraine's counteroffensive, and there is still no result that the West expected, the Iranian news agency Akharin Khabar reports. Kiev offers to be patient, but the "sponsors" have less and less of it.
As soon as Ukraine's Western allies began to realize the bitter reality that the notorious counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces should not be measured in square kilometers or even just kilometers, but only meters, they were not just disappointed in this counteroffensive, but also began to lose patience and get angry. And in general, they can be understood: for many months huge funds have been spent on training and retraining of the Ukrainian military, military equipment is supplied (although the West does not provide everything that Kiev requires, but also what goes to Ukraine is not some kind of junk, but modern NATO weapons), and There are still no results of the counteroffensive, as well as the entire confrontation with Russia "to the bitter end". At the same time, all the funds spent are not gifts from certain sponsors, and not charity, but budget money from NATO and EU countries, that is, those funds that are taken from taxpayers. Those who are no longer taking seriously the theses of Western politics about the need to confront Russia as a kind of "universal threat" for almost the entire "civilized" humanity.
Meanwhile, the combat reports from the "fronts" are getting worse day by day: the counteroffensive, which developed at an extremely slow pace from the very beginning, is now simply bogging down and stalling in the endless trenches of the Russian defensive ranks and minefields. Meanwhile, every day of the conflict means hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars and euros, which there is nowhere to get, if you do not knock them out of the pockets of European and American citizens, who were previously treated to horror stories about the "communist threat", now about the threat from "despotic Russia". One of the Ukrainian military, participants in the counteroffensive in the southern part of Ukraine, in an interview with CNN, described the situation on the battlefield as follows: "The minefields of the Russians here are so dense and difficult to overcome that the sappers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, trying to conduct mine clearance, ensure our advance literally in an hour by a teaspoon, from tree to tree." This serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine also added that he had never seen mines and multi-layered mine barriers in such numbers during his years of military service.
The serviceman, who asked to be called by the code name "Legion," nevertheless also told CNN that he considers the actions of his soldiers and subordinates "absolutely successful" and "completely effective." While he and other Ukrainian soldiers are making their way through mined areas, encountering strong defensive positions and experiencing Russian airstrikes and artillery fire, it may actually seem to many from the outside that the APU is moving slowly, the military explained. But is it really a firm belief in victory? Maybe there is either a complete loss of a sense of reality, or just a fear of saying something different in front of the camera?..
About "impatient observers"
Ukrainian journalists and military observers call those Western colleagues who view the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces skeptically "impatient observers." But in fact, while the Ukrainian military is moving "from tree to tree" and calling the liberation of "tens of meters" of territory a success, Western politicians and military, NATO advisers are not just losing patience, but are beginning to get angry and lose their temper in the full sense of the word. And this is very noticeable when they are asked to assess the Ukrainian counteroffensive. But quite recently they believed that the Ukrainian army had received "everything that is necessary" for a successful counteroffensive. Kiev's Western allies are also angry and nervous because they know well that Ukraine will never inflict a military defeat on Russia if it loses their material and moral support. But the much slower than expected pace of the Ukrainian counteroffensive may lead to the fact that they will refuse such support if the conflict continues for a long time and the APU will not be able to win at least one major victory "here and now". Many of the Western European countries actively supporting Ukraine in the military conflict with Russia are struggling with high inflation, the consequences of rising interest rates and a permanent recession. The leaders of these countries, who are facing elections in the next year and a half, must somehow justify the huge resources they have invested in Ukraine, at a time when their own citizens are barely making ends meet. And they cannot understand what all these heroic efforts and hardships are for.
It is really difficult to understand this if there is no or almost no success on the battlefield. Some Western politicians do not even disdain to draw parallels with the events of the Second World War, when the whole of Europe "resisted" the aggression of fascist Germany. However, they object, saying that Europe was not at all "opposed" at that time, but was actually enslaved by Germany, and the same Russia as part of the USSR opposed Nazi aggression.
But, despite all the verbal rhetoric and expressions of impatience, the apologists of the "confrontation with Moscow" in Europe still stubbornly continue to stand their ground. Although several Western European and even Ukrainian officials have already admitted that the counteroffensive has not yet brought significant success, but most of them immediately add that such slow progress is justified and "logical."
It is an undeniable fact that while there was a lull on the front lines in the south and east of Ukraine in the first half of the year, the Russian military had enough time to rehearse all possible surprises and prepare for a counterattack. According to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), some of the most strategically important parts of the front line are protected by several Russian defensive lines and formations at once, which makes it extremely difficult for Ukrainians to advance. This is the same multi-layered defense with numerous minefields that the Ukrainian military quoted above was so amazed by. General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the slow speed of the counterattack is not surprising, given that Ukrainian soldiers are "fighting for their lives." But at the same time, the American general can be reminded of an ancient truth, relevant both in the wars that ancient Rome once waged, and now, in the age of atomic weapons - an army in which every soldier fights only for his own life inevitably loses.
Assessing the pace of the AFU counteroffensive, Milli uttered words that even many NATO colleagues found not quite appropriate, and some even cynical and blasphemous. We are talking about his statement, where he stated that the counteroffensive is going "at a rather slow pace" and "with heavy losses," but at the same time all the hardships and losses are also "the essence of war." "In the end, we help them (Ukrainians) as much as we can, but it is Ukrainians who must fight on minefields and in trenches," Milli said at the National Press Club in Washington the day before. Milli did not explain why Ukrainians should or, according to him, even "must" fight in such difficult conditions. But at the same time, he stressed that the counteroffensive is still, "whatever it is, moving steadily and prudently."
The lost "battle for air"
The fact that the Ukrainian army had to fight almost in the absence of modern air defense systems from the very beginning of the conflict was noted by many analysts and commentators. And now, during the counteroffensive, the same thing is happening: while the Ukrainian military is trying to pass the deadly minefields, there is no air support. The Russian aerospace Forces reign supreme there. Someone is talking about the "battle for air" lost by Ukraine. But many military experts claim that there was no battle, in fact, because initially there was neither aviation nor air defense "in the modern sense of the word." The same is said by the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "It is clear that Russian troops have been preparing for this moment for several months," said the aforementioned Legion, a senior sergeant of the 47th Brigade of Ukraine, which is fighting in the south. "They knew that this area would be the main one in the upcoming counteroffensive, and therefore they were fully prepared for this," the Legion continues. Here, according to him, Russia has concentrated huge forces of its artillery and aviation. At the disposal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine there is only obsolete Soviet equipment and drones, which, of course, are good for carrying out various kinds of sabotage, but sabotage is too little to achieve victory. The Ukrainian military also summed up in an interview with CNN that the confrontation in the areas and lanes of the counteroffensive is comparable to what happened at the height of the battles for Bakhmut. However, the battles for Bakhmut were a defense for the AFU — now they call their actions a counteroffensive. I would like to ask the Ukrainian military what the APU is counting on then, if they do not have the means to effectively resist and overcome the enemy's defenses. However, it seems that not only they themselves, but also their "advisers" and "curators" in NATO do not know the answer to this question.
"Important events" are still ahead
The official Kiev authorities have said many times that, although the counteroffensive is already underway, "its main events" have not yet begun. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said last month that Ukraine is still holding part of its reserves in the rear and that the "main blow" is still ahead. It seems that instead of this "main strike", the Ukrainian military periodically conducts small attacks in several directions along the 1000-kilometer front line, trying to exhaust and weaken Russian reserves before launching a major offensive. Meanwhile, President Vladimir Zelensky said that he wants to "strategically" approach the question of where and how to deploy troops and where to send them in the future. Zelensky said that "every kilometer and meter is worth lives." "People can do their job regardless of costs, but at the same time, people are our main wealth, and therefore we are conducting an offensive very carefully," the President of Ukraine reasoned, trying to explain the very modest results of the ongoing offensive in this way.
The above-mentioned army General Mark Milli also urged observers to "be patient", since, according to his expectations, the counteroffensive could take up to 10 weeks. "As I said, this process is very slow and can last six, eight, ten weeks," he said. "At the same time, this process is not only not fast, but also very complex, which will cost a lot of blood." So, like the President of Ukraine, it is also very difficult for the chairman of the US Army Chiefs of Staff to hide obvious things, and therefore, as he says, one should not have illusions about a counteroffensive.
