Pace of Ukrainian counteroffensive does not suggest a stalemate – ISW

The current pace of operations of Ukrainian forces does not suggest that the situation has reached a dead end or that Ukraine is unable to take back big areas of its territories, the Institute for the Study of War reports.

Source: ISW 

Details: The institute recalled that Ukrainian forces conducted slow and gradual campaigns to block clusters of Russians on the eastern bank of Kherson Oblast and limited ground attacks on the west bank between August and November 2022, before finally forcing the Russians to withdraw from the right bank in mid-November.

At the same time, the ISW noted that the Russian winter-spring offensive ended in a little more than a month, without achieving significant success along the border of the Luhansk and Kharkiv oblasts.

Quote: "The situation in southern Ukraine is different, of course, because there is no natural bottleneck of the sort created by Russian reliance on the two bridges over the Dnipro.

The Ukrainian counter-offensive in Kherson nevertheless alternated phases of relatively rapid advance with long periods of preparation, combat focused on attritting Russian forces, and limited gains that ultimately made Russian positions on the west bank of the river untenable.

… The current Ukrainian counter-offensive is less dramatic and rapid than the one that liberated much of Kharkiv Oblast, more successful than the failed Russian winter offensive, and generally most like the slower but ultimately successful Kherson counteroffensive in its pace and initial progress."

Background:

• US General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Ukrainian counteroffensive operations are currently progressing more slowly than previously predicted, but the Defence Forces are advancing with confidence and purpose.
• Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that soldiers pay in blood for liberation of every metre of Ukrainian land, so he is annoyed by other people's comments that the counteroffensive is slower than expected.

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