President Zelensky said that the Ukrainian army has had a difficult week, but is making progress on the battlefield.
“Last week was a very difficult period on the front lines, but we are making progress. The Ukrainian army is moving forward step by step. Thank you to those who are defending the country and leading us to victory,” the General said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram today.
Zelensky did not specify the difficult situation on the front lines or the progress of the Ukrainian armed forces.
On July 2, Maliar acknowledged the “very complicated situation” as Russian troops were approaching the cities of Avdiivka, Maryinka, Lyman and Svatove in the Donetsk region. Ukraine’s deputy defense minister stressed that Ukrainian forces had also made progress in the south with “partially successful attacks” on the southern slopes of Bakhmut and the area near the Russian-controlled cities of Berdyansk and Melitopol.
Ukraine has launched several NATO-trained brigades with Western weapons in a counter-offensive that began in early June. Kyiv has repeatedly declared the counter-offensive “partially successful” and that its troops are moving forward. Every day, at the same time announced to have regained control of many villages.
However, these are not too large areas and are located in the disputed area between the two sides. Ukrainian forces are forecast to take weeks to reach Russia’s first fortified line of defense. That will be a real test for Ukrainian soldiers when the Russian side has been preparing the line for many months.
Ukraine also suffered a lot of losses in terms of soldiers and modern motor vehicles provided by the West. Kyiv’s two standard NATO brigades lost nearly 20% of the Bradleys, 20% of the Leopard 2A6 tanks and 50% of the Leopard 2Rs in the army after just one hour of fighting on June 8.
Many Western military officials and analysts believe that Ukraine’s long-awaited counter-offensive campaign has not achieved the expected results. President Zelensky also acknowledged on June 21 that this operation has been slower than the wishes of some parties, emphasizing that this effort needs a long time to achieve significant results.
General Mark Milley said on June 30 that Ukraine‘s slow progress was “part of the nature of the war”. “I was told this would take 6-10 weeks, very difficult, very long and extremely bloody. They were going through very complex minefields. War, in theory, is very different from reality,” he commented.
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