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l'Ukraine n'a pas réussi à pénétrer les fortifications Russes et la contre-attaque qui était tellement attendue par l'Occident est un grand échec. Les forces Ukrainiennes prétendent que les défenses Russes sont trés difficiles à pénétrer et leur a couté bcp de matériel et d'hommes.
Is Ukraine's counteroffensive failing? Kyiv and its supporters worry about losing control of the narrative
Some U.S. officials are frustrated at the pace of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which has gained less than 100 square miles of territory.
As Ukrainian troops wage a difficult fight against well-defended Russian forces in Ukraine, the government in Kyiv is waging a different kind of battle abroad, trying to shape how the world perceives its counteroffensive.
Ukrainian officials and their supporters say they are confident they will prevail on the battlefield in the end, but warn against what they see as unrealistic expectations in media coverage and commentaries that could create a misleading narrative suggesting it cannot and will not win.
“The two things that we keep asking our allies for are weapons and patience,” said Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister.
Although equipped with new U.S. and other Western-made weapons and gear, including tanks, longer-range missiles and artillery ammunition, Ukraine lacks air power and has encountered stiff resistance from the Russian forces who have planted hundreds of mines across the front line, set up anti-tank barriers and dug rows of defensive trenches.
Since the counteroffensive was launched in June, Ukraine has retaken about 241 square kilometers of territory in the country’s south and east, or less than 100 square miles, according to Hanna Maliar, the country’s deputy minister of defense.
Sak and other officials in Kyiv said that the Ukrainian military has prioritized preserving its troops and weapons as it searches for a weak point in Russia’s defenses. In the meantime, Ukraine has begun to surge troops in the country’s south and pursued small-scale attacks to test the Russian lines.
Some U.S. officials privately expressed disappointment that the Ukrainians have appeared to hold back on deploying some of their most well-equipped and trained units, and that they have not necessarily applied the training principles they received. “There is a frustration that they have not used more of the combat power that they have,” one U.S. official said.
Another senior administration official said the Biden administration and U.S. allies have given Ukraine everything it requested for the counteroffensive, including 500 tanks and hundreds of armored vehicles.
“We are confident that they have significant combat capability available to them, and that they’re going to employ that at a time and place of their choosing to defend their country and take back sovereign territory,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Thursday.
Ukrainian officials reject the idea they are moving too slowly.
“I don’t think there’s any other nation or people in the world who would want this counteroffensive to be moving faster,” Sak said of Ukraine.
“Look, we are facing an enemy that outnumbers us in terms of personnel, artillery and everything else. We have to be David in this battle against Goliath, which means we have to be smart,” he said.
Heavy casualties
Leonid Polyakov, a former Ukrainian vice defense minister, said that in two separate cases, once in June and another time in July, a brigade commander had pursued direct assaults during the counteroffensive in hopes of a swift victory. The army sent infantry and armored units to attack the Russian lines across uncleared minefields and without suppressing enemy fire. The brigades were shredded by opposing forces, and the commanders were severely criticized internally for the unnecessary losses.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has acknowledged that the much-discussed “spring counteroffensive” was delayed as his forces worked to incorporate new Western military equipment and training. Speaking virtually at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, he said they waited “because, frankly, we had not enough munitions and armaments and not enough properly trained brigades.”
The Russians were able to use the additional time to build out their defenses, analysts and U.S. officials said.
Now, breaking through Russian lines across the dense minefields in the east and the south will almost certainly inflict high casualties on Ukrainian troops, U.S. officials and experts said.
“That’s a tough decision for a battlefield commander to make,” the senior administration official said. “And I don’t think that’s anything anyone can begrudge the Ukrainians for taking seriously,” the official said.
Source: NBCnews
Is Ukraine's counteroffensive failing? Kyiv and its supporters worry about losing control of the narrative
Some U.S. officials are frustrated at the pace of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which has gained less than 100 square miles of territory.
As Ukrainian troops wage a difficult fight against well-defended Russian forces in Ukraine, the government in Kyiv is waging a different kind of battle abroad, trying to shape how the world perceives its counteroffensive.
Ukrainian officials and their supporters say they are confident they will prevail on the battlefield in the end, but warn against what they see as unrealistic expectations in media coverage and commentaries that could create a misleading narrative suggesting it cannot and will not win.
“The two things that we keep asking our allies for are weapons and patience,” said Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister.
Although equipped with new U.S. and other Western-made weapons and gear, including tanks, longer-range missiles and artillery ammunition, Ukraine lacks air power and has encountered stiff resistance from the Russian forces who have planted hundreds of mines across the front line, set up anti-tank barriers and dug rows of defensive trenches.
Since the counteroffensive was launched in June, Ukraine has retaken about 241 square kilometers of territory in the country’s south and east, or less than 100 square miles, according to Hanna Maliar, the country’s deputy minister of defense.
Sak and other officials in Kyiv said that the Ukrainian military has prioritized preserving its troops and weapons as it searches for a weak point in Russia’s defenses. In the meantime, Ukraine has begun to surge troops in the country’s south and pursued small-scale attacks to test the Russian lines.
Some U.S. officials privately expressed disappointment that the Ukrainians have appeared to hold back on deploying some of their most well-equipped and trained units, and that they have not necessarily applied the training principles they received. “There is a frustration that they have not used more of the combat power that they have,” one U.S. official said.
Another senior administration official said the Biden administration and U.S. allies have given Ukraine everything it requested for the counteroffensive, including 500 tanks and hundreds of armored vehicles.
“We are confident that they have significant combat capability available to them, and that they’re going to employ that at a time and place of their choosing to defend their country and take back sovereign territory,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Thursday.
Ukrainian officials reject the idea they are moving too slowly.
“I don’t think there’s any other nation or people in the world who would want this counteroffensive to be moving faster,” Sak said of Ukraine.
“Look, we are facing an enemy that outnumbers us in terms of personnel, artillery and everything else. We have to be David in this battle against Goliath, which means we have to be smart,” he said.
Heavy casualties
Leonid Polyakov, a former Ukrainian vice defense minister, said that in two separate cases, once in June and another time in July, a brigade commander had pursued direct assaults during the counteroffensive in hopes of a swift victory. The army sent infantry and armored units to attack the Russian lines across uncleared minefields and without suppressing enemy fire. The brigades were shredded by opposing forces, and the commanders were severely criticized internally for the unnecessary losses.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has acknowledged that the much-discussed “spring counteroffensive” was delayed as his forces worked to incorporate new Western military equipment and training. Speaking virtually at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, he said they waited “because, frankly, we had not enough munitions and armaments and not enough properly trained brigades.”
The Russians were able to use the additional time to build out their defenses, analysts and U.S. officials said.
Now, breaking through Russian lines across the dense minefields in the east and the south will almost certainly inflict high casualties on Ukrainian troops, U.S. officials and experts said.
“That’s a tough decision for a battlefield commander to make,” the senior administration official said. “And I don’t think that’s anything anyone can begrudge the Ukrainians for taking seriously,” the official said.
Source: NBCnews
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