Kyiv has launched one of its largest military operations since the start of the war. But now, even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is acknowledging that this offensive is going "slower than expected."
"It's just getting underway," said retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, who formerly served as the commanding general of United States Army Europe, in an interview with Business Insider. "Most of Ukraine's army is not even in the fight yet."
Official sources claim that Ukraine is still in the initial phase of its most recent ground operations, which are focused on collecting information and confirming intelligence that offers insight into the enemy's objectives.
"The offensive has started, but not the main attack," claimed retired Australian Army Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan. He added that the Ukrainians have taken a broad front approach to the conflict, scanning the front lines and trying to find penetrable places to attempt to break through the Russian defenses.
"When they find it, they'll do it," he said. "They only have to create one significant breakthrough to cause all kinds of problems for the Russians."
Ukraine working hard to counter Moscow's messaging about "failed" counteroffensive
Ukrainian and pro-Ukrainian Western analysts are actively attempting to counter Russian messaging about how Zelensky's so-called counteroffensive has been a total failure, pointing to Moscow's own recent bout of mutinous infighting with President Vladimir Putin's former confidante Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner Group, which actually was short-lived and ended with a deal with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that would see Prigozhin go into exile.
Furthermore, even U.S. sources note that the Wagner rebellion didn't change much on the 600-mile front in southern and eastern Ukraine.
"As of now, it's not going to have any significant effect on the battlefield. The battlefield remains what it was," said retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. Steve Ganyard, adding that the counter offensive "continues to be a very long, hard, difficult and bloody fight."
Since Kyiv started the counteroffensive earlier this month, the country's efforts to break through Russia's dug-in trenches have been hobbled by dangerous minefields along the miles-long front and air attacks from above, culminating in a brutal slog of an offensive thus far.
"Everything is mined, everywhere," said Lt. Ashot Arutiunian, the commander of a drone unit, who watched through a drone's video link as one mine exploded under a U.S.-supplied Bradley armored vehicle and halted the advance of an armored column.
At least 17 of 113 such tanks that the U.S. gave Ukraine earlier this year have been damaged or destroyed, a senior U.S. military official said. (Related: Nearly 15% of Bradley armored vehicles the US sent to Ukraine now DESTROYED over just 3 days.)
The same official added that Ukrainian forces in some locations along the front line are pausing to reassess which breaching and clearing tactics and techniques are working best as the minefields become bigger and more ubiquitous, and the Russian troops have proven adept at replenishing some minefields cleared by Western-supplied equipment.
"They dug in, they mined, they are ready," said Yevhen, a private with a paramilitary police unit who insisted on being identified only by his first name and rank. "It is difficult, but there is no other option."
Follow UkraineWitness.com for updates on the recent developments in Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.
Watch the video below discussing Kyiv's counteroffensive, which is now on operational pause.
This video is from Red Voice Media on Brighteon.com.
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