A Ukrainian soldier mans a machine gun while riding a MaxxPro MRAP within the recently liberated village of Blagodatne in Donetsk Oblast on June 16, 2023, in the course of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Anatoly Stepanov | AFP | Getty’s paintings
It’s becoming increasingly clear that Ukraine can have a protracted and bloody toil ahead of its counter-offensive to reclaim Russian-occupied territories within the south and east of the country.
The Ukrainian counter-offensive, which remains to be in its infancy, has produced only limited gains thus far, with eight settlements recaptured within the last two weeks. Ukrainian officials are the primary to confess that the country’s armed forces face a “difficult showdown” with Russia in the approaching weeks and months.
“We knew before we began [the counteroffensive] that it won’t be a walk within the park,” Yuri Sak, a senior adviser at Ukraine’s defense ministry, told CNBC on Tuesday.
“We knew that the Russians had months to arrange, we knew that that they had built very, very heavily fortified defensive lines, that that they had placed hundreds of thousands of mines along the front line. They’re entrenched so deep that he already had a excellent concept that it wasn’t going to be a simple task,” he added.
Fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces has intensified in recent weeks as Kiev launched a counter-offensive in not less than three areas of the frontline stretching from south to eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Monday that over the past week, Ukrainian troops towards Zaporozhye in southern Ukraine advanced so far as seven kilometers (4.3 miles) and liberated 113 square kilometers (43.6 square miles) of territory, including eight estates.
But in later comments last night, Maliar admitted that “it is sort of difficult for our defenders to advance since the enemy has thrown all his forces to stop the offensive”, adding that the fighting “is intensifying each within the east and within the south.” country.
“Although our troops are advancing in several directions to the south, the enemy is concentrating a lot of his efforts within the east and continuing to advance there,” she noted in Google-translated comments.
“The enemy won’t quit easily and we’ve to arrange ourselves for it to be a troublesome matchup. [that’s] exactly what is occurring now.”
This time the Russians “don’t run away”.
Defense analysts said they expect Ukraine to launch larger counterattacks against Russian forces in the approaching months and suggest that the early phase was used to explore weaknesses in Russian defensive lines.
Maliar looked as if it would confirm this view, stating: “An ongoing operation has several tasks, and the military performs these tasks. They move as they need to. And the largest blow is yet to return.” She didn’t explain more.
Nevertheless, pressure is mounting on Ukraine to deliver a solid performance – and analysts have told CNBC that expectations could also be far too high.
They said Ukraine had form of change into a victim of its own success after seeing this “hot” counter-offensive last yr recapture the realm of Kharkiv Oblast in north-eastern Ukraine and far of Kherson within the south.
Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian MP, told CNBC on Tuesday that it was too early for a counteroffensive to pass judgments. “Last yr, Ukraine showed a form of lightning and the Russians just ran away. This time the Russians usually are not running away, they’re fighting, but we’re moving forward.”
Calling for patience, Ukraine’s defense adviser Yuri Sak told CNBC: “We understand that everybody – and we greater than anyone else – wants [the counteroffensive] grow faster.”
“But when planning the following military steps every day, our military command considers priority primary, which is to advance with minimal casualties on our side. Subsequently, decision-making may be very, very careful, we’re still probing and reconnaissance in numerous parts of the front line, in some places we’re moving higher or faster,” he added, referring to the gains made within the south thus far.
More weapons are needed
An oft-heard cry from Kiev was about more weapons from international allies and, more importantly, the speedy delivery of those weapons to Ukraine.
Indeed, while Ukraine was waiting for the counter-offensive to start – facing inclement weather and muddy terrain, and awaiting a long-awaited decision on the availability of battle tanks similar to the Leopard 2 – Russia was in a position to construct a defense in depth within the occupied territory.
On this regard, Sak said that the relatively slow progress of the counter-offensive had been expected thus far, but repeated Ukraine’s call for more military equipment from its international allies.
![It is too early to judge the counter-offensive, says a Ukrainian politician](https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107259048-16872510221687251019-29963254989-1080pnbcnews.jpg?v=1687256035&w=750&h=422&vtcrop=y)
“Much will rely on our ability to amass more weapons more quickly, as air supremacy along the front lines is entirely within the hands of the Russians … unnecessary risks,” Sak said.
There was much criticism of Kiev’s NATO allies for his or her slowness in agreeing and delivering equipment to Ukraine. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, chairman of Rasmussen Global and former NATO secretary general, told CNBC on Tuesday that “we’re way too slow.”
“The embarrassing discussion in regards to the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks is a really sad example of how we allowed Putin to make use of our hesitation to bolster his defenses,” said Fogh Rasmussen, adding that it made it far more difficult for Ukraine to launch a counter-offensive.
Lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko agreed that the West’s delay in arms deliveries was frustrating
Ukrainian military personnel undergo armored maneuver training on German Leopard 2 battle tanks on the Spanish Army’s San Gregorio training facility in Zaragoza, March 13, 2023.
Oscar Del Pozo | AFP | Getty’s paintings
“It’s frustrating that arms deliveries are so gradual and slow, and it’s really weakening our positions, and we have given the Russians time to consolidate and dig in.” [themselves] but we’ll do our greatest,” Squawk Box Europe told CNBC.
“Militarily, we do not have air superiority, unfortunately we do not have that many troops, that is obvious, but what we do have is higher morale amongst our troops, which provides us the power to maneuver ahead of us,” Goncharenko added.
It is rather likely that this latest phase of the war could prove costly by way of personnel and military equipment for either side.
— reported the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Facebook On Monday, these forces “eliminated” 1,010 Russian soldiers within the last day alone in fierce fighting. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defense of Russia he said on Telegram yesterday that its forces killed not less than 600 Ukrainian soldiers in fighting across southern and eastern Ukraine, especially within the Donetsk region.
Each Ukraine and Russia tried to reduce their very own reported losses while attempting to make the enemy’s losses appear larger. CNBC was unable to confirm the knowledge contained within the reports.