STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT- The stalled effort is actually “some kind of preparatory operation,” the Ukrainian Defense Minister insists,Expected results from Kiev’s ongoing counteroffensive against Russia have been “overestimated,” Ukraine’s Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov has claimed. The offensive by Ukrainian forces should be treated as “some kind of preparatory operation” rather than a decisive battle, he added.
Reznikov gave an interview to Fox News which was published on Sunday, in which he insisted Kiev had never planned the offensive to be a “blitzkrieg.” The minister admitted that the Russians had erected “very strong defensive lines” all along the frontline.
“It’s some kind of preparatory operation, shape operation certainly. And we understand that they use very strong defense lines, especially minefields,” Reznikov said, adding that the “expectation was overestimated” for the Ukrainian “counteroffensive plan.”
At the same time, the minister insisted the stalled effort was the “next step to victory.” Reznikov also claimed that Kiev has been very careful in deploying its troops onto the battlefield and has been doing its best to “save their lives,” alleging that Moscow has been using its forces as a “meat grinder.” The minister also expressed confidence this year will be a “game changer” in the ongoing conflict, yet urged the public not to expect a decisive victory stemming from the ongoing push.
Ukraine launched its long-heralded counteroffensive in early June, repeatedly attacking Russian positions at different points across the frontlines. Thus far, the push has failed to produce any tangible results, with the Kiev forces sustaining heavy casualties.
The stalled effort has already cost Kiev thousands of servicemen and hundreds of pieces of Western-supplied military hardware, including multiple German-made Leopard 2 tanks and US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
The Ukrainian military lost over 800 soldiers in its most recent offensive efforts, the defense ministry has said,Kiev’s forces have repeatedly attacked Russian positions across the frontline in the past 24 hours, sustaining heavy casualties in process, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Sunday. The Ukrainian forces lost more than 800 soldiers as well as multiple pieces of military hardware during the offensives, it added.
The Donbass city of Artyomovsk (known in Ukraine as Bakhmut) and its immediate vicinity have seen the most intense fighting, with ten attacks repelled in the area. Ukrainian forces lost up to 430 troops there, as well as 11 infantry fighting vehicles, multiple cars, and an artillery piece, the Defense Ministry stated in its daily briefing.
The Russian military also said it had destroyed a major ammunition stockpile near the town of Avdeyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), which saw a further four attacks repelled.
Another four major attacks were repelled in the north of Donbass, with intense fighting observed around multiple settlements in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR). On that axis, the Ukrainian military lost up to 130 fighters, three armored vehicles, a self-propelled and two towed howitzers, as well as other hardware.
In the south, the main theater of the long-heralded Ukrainian counteroffensive effort since it began in early June, medium-intensity fighting continued along the frontline, with another three attacks fought off. The Russian military said it hit multiple targets near the city of Orekhov, the primary logistics hub of the Ukrainian military in Zaporozhye Region. Ukrainian forces lost more than 170 soldiers in the area, with at least five howitzers, a tank and several armored cars destroyed.
The Russian military also continued to conduct long-range strikes against Ukraine’s military installations. Near the Ukrainian-controlled city of Kherson, for instance, the attacks resulted in teh deaths of more than 50 Ukrainian servicemen, as well as in the destruction of a US-supplied M777 howitzer and other equipment, the Defense Ministry stated.
The apparent uptick in fighting on the frontlines and ramped up attacks by the Ukrainian military came amid domestic turmoil in Russia, caused by the short-lived insurrection by the Wagner Group PMC on Friday. The group seized control of a military HQ in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and even advanced towards Moscow, but ultimately backed down following talks facilitated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.