While the long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive has been going on for more than two weeks already, one thing has become increasingly apparent: Kiev's troops’ have stalled while they continue to suffer heavy casualties, a security analyst told Sputnik.
Ukraine essentially continues to be sending all its troops at the Russian defenses, sacrificing hundreds, if not thousands, of Ukrainian soldiers and still failing to produce any result that Zelensky and his NATO sponsors could sell as at least a tactical victory.
Speaking to Sputnik, international relations and security analyst Mark Sleboda noted that “there has been essentially no progress by the Kiev regime's offensive.”
“It is effectively stalled and they continue to take heavy casualties, heavy attrition,” Sleboda said, adding that, in most cases, Ukrainian troops bleed and die “still ten, fifteen kilometers” away from “Russia's first defensive line.”
According to Sleboda, all this fighting is taking place in what he described as the “throwaway zone”: an area before the actual Russian defensive lines, which the Russian troops deemed unsuitable for “static, heavy defenses, defensive lines with trenches and fortifications.”
Noting how Institute for the Study of War said in a statement that Ukrainian forces may be temporarily pausing counter offensive operations to reevaluate tactics, the analyst suggested it essentially means that the architects of the counteroffensive realized that their approach is not working.
While he did admit that this statement could be a deception, Sleboda argued that it “largely reflects what we're seeing,” with Ukrainian forces managing to seize into a “string of farm hamlets” at a cost of “so much blood and steel,” only to find themselves the lowlands, with Russian forces raining rockets and shells upon them from fortified positions located on the high ground.
He also stressed that, while resorting to “human wave attacks” allowed Ukrainian forces to drive back some of the Russian screening squads deployed ahead of the actual Russian defensive lines, most of the Kiev regime’s troops who perished in this counteroffensive “died without ever really seeing the enemy,” not to mention that they lost a lot more men than the Russian defenders.
On Tuesday, June 20, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Kiev regime forces lost over 400 militants dead during the past 24 hours alone while unsuccessfully attempting to simultaneously advance on several fronts.
Watch Russian Su-25 Pilot Reigning the Skies
Operating a Su-25 takes intense and meticulous training. According to current standards, pilot must spend at least 100 hours a year in flight.
The Russian Ministry of Defense published footage of a Su-25 pilot who has already completed 230 sorties.
There are 23 white stars on his plane – each is for ten completed missions.
The Su-25 is a subsonic jet aircraft specially designed to provide close air support for troops. Covering Russian soldiers from the skies, it blasts enemy armored vehicles including tanks and eliminating hostile manpower. The Su-25 can fly at speeds of over 900 km per hour and launch air-to ground missiles.
Watch Western-Gifted Ukrainian APCs Turned Into Junk by Russian Forces
A Russian reconnaissance group has filmed Western-made Ukrainian armored personnel carriers that were destroyed in the town of Avdeevka in Donbass.
A serviceman from the Russian battlegroup Yug (South) told Sputnik that the video shows “armored NATO military equipment” that was obliterated by Russian troops and blown up in minefields near Avdeevka. He added that this military hardware “was delivered to the Kiev regime by the West.”
"All these armored foreign vehicles have been destroyed by us since the beginning of this summer” as the Russian troops repulsed “the so-called Ukrainian counteroffensive," the serviceman pointed out.
The footage comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the 2023 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum last week that Ukraine had failed to reach any strategic objectives amid its ongoing counteroffensive, losing at least 186 tanks and 418 armored vehicles to date as the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ сasualties continue to mount.
Ukraine Plans to Strike at Crimea With Storm Shadow Cruise Missiles – Shoigu
The Ukrainian armed forces are planning to strike at the territory of Russia, including Crimea, with HIMARS and Storm Shadow cruise missiles, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Tuesday.
"According to our information, the leadership of the armed forces of Ukraine plans to strike at the territory of Russia, including Crimea, with HIMARS and Storm Shadow missiles," Shoigu said at a meeting of the collegium of the Ministry of Defense.
The use of Storm Shadow and HIMARS missiles outside the special operation zone will entail immediate strikes on decision-making centers in Ukraine, the minister said.
"The use of these missiles outside the zone of the special military operation will mean the full involvement of the United States and the United Kingdom in the conflict," he added.
In early 2023, a British daily reported, citing Ukrainian defense sources, that the Ukrainian military is prepared to use the UK-supplied long-range missiles, such as Storm Shadow, to hit Crimea if these are provided in military aid.
Unsuccessful Ukrainian Counteroffensive
Ukrainian troops have launched a total of 263 attacks on the positions of the Russian armed forces in the Donetsk, South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions since June 4, but all of them have been successfully repelled, Russian Defense Minister said.
"Ukrainian troops keep attempting offensive actions in the South Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Donetsk directions. When doing so, the Kiev regime is using a large number of Western weapons and elite military formations, whose members have been trained by NATO specialists. Since June 4, the Ukrainian armed forces have launched 263 attacks on the positions of Russian troops," he stressed.
The Russian defense chief added that Kiev had failed to achieve its goals "thanks to the competent and selfless actions" of Russian troops.
Technical Forum Army-2023
A total of 41 foreign states are ready to send their delegations to the 9th international military-technical forum Army-2023 hosted by Russia in August.
"To date, 41 foreign countries have expressed a desire to send their delegations to the upcoming forum. For foreign guests, a dynamic demonstration of the possibilities of export samples of military and dual-use products is planned, a day of military-technical cooperation will be held," Shoigu said at a meeting of the collegium of the Ministry of Defense.
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