At what stage is the Ukrainian counteroffensive? It “failed” as the Russian president says Vladimir Putin? It is “only at the beginning” as the US Secretary of State guarantees Antony The blink? After a Saturday of attacks in the Crimea by the Ukrainian army and the bombing of Odessa by the Russian one, the situation of the conflict still seems to dance on the ridge, like an acrobat on a tightrope, without making it clear which way it can lean. From the words of the Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky there seems to be some admission that more was expected of these two and a half months. “The start of counter-offensive actions has been delayed – he said yesterday – we didn’t want to lose our people and the military didn’t want to lose our equipment. Today we are approaching the time when these actions can become a little faster“. Meanwhile, tonight, there was the bombing of Odessa. And the result is that now Kiev is asking for more weapons. Zelensky in particular has issued a new appeal to allies for more air defense weapons that protect Ukraine from Russian missiles. “Ukraine needs a real one shield airplane: the only way to defeat Russian missile terror – he wrote on Telegram – We have already demonstrated that we can also shoot down the Russian missiles that terrorists boast about. Thanks to the help of our partners, thousands of lives have been saved. But we need to multiple air defense systems. The world must not get used to Russian terror: it must be defeated. And it’s possible.”
A few days ago the Foreign Minister Mykhailo Podolyak had made a detailed list of what is needed to “intensify the counter-offensive”: 300 armored vehicles, 80 F-16 fighters, ten air defense systems such as American patriot oh French Samp-T. Today it was Blinken who spoke, recalling that “Kiev has reconquered about 50% of the territories initially occupied by Russia” and therefore “in terms of what he wanted to achieve as an objective, Russia has failed. The Ukrainian counteroffensive is at the start“. It will take months, he added again, as the American administration has been quick to repeat for days now in the face of the Ukrainian quagmire. “We have seen progress in the Ukrainian counter-offensive, Russia is losing ground” the defense secretary said in almost the same words the other day Lloyd Austin. But meanwhile Blinken reminds Ukrainians that Ukraine will receive, yes, F-16 fighter aircraft, but their delivery will take “several months”. “It’s not just a question of delivering the planes – she says – but of training. Of maintenance. It’s all about the ability to use it with combined arms. All of this takes time.” In recent days, however, the United States they had reiterated that they will not provide long range missilesdespite pressure from Congress, some ambiguous output of the president Joe Biden and the repeated calls of the Ukrainian government.
A few days ago Francesco Palmas are to come he pointed out that the troops of Kiev in these 6 weeks of fighting have (re)conquered 300 square kilometers, very little. According to the analysis of Gianluca DiFeo are Republic the counter-offensive hasn’t advanced for 48 days, compared to the 42 with which it ended, for example battle of the bulge and of the 52 of that of Kursk among the troops of Hitler and those of Stalin. Again according to this analysis, the error was “technical”, in the field: the Ukrainians were unable to open a breach in the Russian front. Whatever the reason for the paralysis of the counter-offensive that everyone admits, the time factor comes back into play – if it ever got out of it. He was the Italian defense minister Guido Crosetto – certainly not accused of “defeatism” or intelligence “with the enemy” – to explain what is the object of the dispute of this slowness. “We potentially have the worst two, three months ahead – he explained during a debate in Viareggio – in which the Ukrainians will be able to unleash the counter-offensive that is so much talked about. But if this fails and the Russians fail to conquer new territory then I think it will be inevitable to sit down a peace table because all sides are losing too much from this war.” “The persistence of a stalemate – he reiterated – I think and hope will convince everyone to sit around a peace table”. On the other hand Crosetto “hopes” to “no longer have to send arms to Kiev also because they are not unlimited“.
Previous Article