Why did the Ukraine Counteroffensive Fail?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Why did Ukraine’s most recent counteroffensive against invading Russian forces fail to achieve its goals?
Strategic Disagreement: According to The Washington Post (Lean Left bias), the counteroffensive failed for a myriad of reasons, including strategic disagreements between the United States and Ukraine, the U.S. miscalculating the Ukraine military’s ability to transform into a “Western-style fighting force in a short period,” an underestimation of the Russian military's ability to recover from previous battlefield defeats, an underestimation of Russia’s “willingness to sacrifice lives on a scale that few other countries can countenance,” and more.
Western Aid: Reports across the spectrum cited disagreements and disputes regarding military aid from Western countries as contributing to the disappointing counteroffensive. U.S. officials urged Ukrainian military officials to launch the counteroffensive sooner in order to give the Russian military less time to dig into defensive positions, but the Ukrainian officials did not think their military was ready without additional weapons and training. Breitbart (Right bias) quoted NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stating, “The more we support the Ukraine, the faster the war will end.”
What’s Next? Last month, reports emerged that U.S. officials were urging Ukraine’s leadership to restart negotiations with Russia, but outlets are not indicating that this is likely to occur in the near future. The Wall Street Journal (Center bias) cited a NATO official to determine that Russia “likely lacks resources to mount a significant offensive this year” and that the war had become a stalemate.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Miscalculations, divisions marked offensive planning by U.S., Ukraine
On June 15, in a conference room at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, flanked by top U.S. commanders, sat around a table with his Ukrainian counterpart, who was joined by aides from Kyiv. The room was heavy with an air of frustration.
Austin, in his deliberate baritone, asked Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov about Ukraine’s decision-making in the opening days of its long-awaited counteroffensive, pressing him on why his forces weren’t using Western-supplied mine-clearing equipment to enable a larger, mechanized assault, or using smoke to conceal their...
From the Center
Ukraine War Slips Toward Violent Stalemate
Ukraine’s 47th Mechanized Brigade was equipped with Western armored vehicles and trained for a lightning summer counteroffensive that was supposed to tip the war firmly in Kyiv’s favor.
These days, after advancing only a few miles over several months in the south, the brigade is fighting to fend off a Russian attack on a small industrial city in eastern Ukraine.
“It’s tough. Their advantage is in the quantity of people,” said one soldier in the brigade. “They are coming nonstop.”
The brigade’s shift from offense to defense reflects a move...
From the Right
NATO Chief Warns of ‘Bad News’ for Ukraine After Failed Counteroffensive
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has warned that Western powers should be prepared for “bad news” from Ukraine in the wake of Kyiv’s failed “counter-offensive” against occupying Russian forces.
Amid growing concerns about Ukraine’s ability to continue the fight against the much larger Russian military and failures to recapture any meaningful amount of territory from Moscow’s army, there are growing whispers in the halls of power in the West about the ex-Soviet state’s prospects in battling back its former master.
The latest to publicly express concern was NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg,...
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