US & Ukraine 'at odds' over counteroffensive tactics reports WSJ, top EU general admits Russia 'clearly superior to Ukraine'

RT
Thu, 24 Aug 2023 15:30 UTC

© Global Look Press/Ukraine President's Office

FILE PHOTO: Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhny

American officials are "frustrated" with Ukraine's reluctance to accept their advice on how to conduct the counteroffensive against Russian forces, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The newspaper claimed it was still "not too late" for Kiev to follow instructions from Washington, and to utilize the training that tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops have received from NATO nations. The outlet noted, however, that the two sides are still "at odds about how to turn the tables on the Russians" before winter sets in.

Comment: Ukraine isn't losing because Kiev isn't following tactic advice from Washington, it's losing because, as noted in the article below, Russia has a far superior military; which is also why the US hasn't tried to take them on themselves and has instead used Ukrainians.

According to the WSJ's sources, the US believes that the amount of Western military aid sent to Ukraine is enough to breach Russian defenses, although the window of opportunity is closing.

"We built up this mountain of steel for the counteroffensive. We can't do that again," one former US official explained. "It doesn't exist."

Comment: This sounds like the US laying more ground work to extricate themselves from their failed proxy war, and to place blame on the Kiev junta.

The Ukrainian military leadership has attempted to deflect criticism by claiming that the Americans do not understand the kind of warfare that Kiev is engaged in, the WSJ added.

"This is not counterinsurgency. This is Kursk," General Valery Zaluzhny, Kiev's top military commander, told his US interlocutors, according to an unnamed American official.

Zaluzhny was referring to a key World War II battle on the eastern front, in which defending Soviet troops stopped Nazi forces before turning the tables on them.

Figures in Washington want Zaluzhny to concentrate Ukrainian forces near the southern city of Tokmak for a push towards the Azov Sea, the article claimed. It added that US officials disapprove of President Vladimir Zelensky's focus on attempts to retake the city of Artyomovsk in the east, which Kiev calls Bakhmut.

The Ukrainian leader, who has invested symbolic significance in the settlement, reportedly argued that recapturing it would boost troop morale. US officials have long said Artyomovsk has no strategic value, urging a withdrawal before Ukrainian troops were ousted from it in late May. The WSJ said Kiev had made adjustments in recent weeks by taking a defensive posture in the east.

Russia has argued that the US is using the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder in a proxy war against Moscow. The Russian military has claimed that Ukrainian troop losses during the first two months of its summer counteroffensive were more than 43,000.

Comment: More from on RT:

Kiev's ability to reconquer territories is 'questionable' - top EU general

Ukraine might not be able to achieve its goals in the conflict with Russia, the Chairman of the EU Military Committee General Robert Brieger admitted to German daily Die Welt daily on Thursday. Moscow possesses vastly superior weapons and personnel reserves and can continue fighting for a long time despite Western sanctions, Brieger warned.

The Ukrainian counteroffensive launched more than two months ago "has not gained any ground yet," he said, before urging "caution" about expecting any breakthroughs in the future.

"The number of brigades available to Kiev for the offensive is limited," he told the newspaper, adding that the Russian forces had built "well-secured defense lines" in the months before the Ukrainian operation.

The Austrian general, who chairs the meetings of the chiefs of staff from all 27 EU members and serves as an adviser to the bloc's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, believes that the conflict between the two sides has come down to a "war of attrition."

© Global Look Press / Tomas Tkacik

FILE PHOTO: the head of the EU military committee, General Robert Brieger

Under such circumstances, Moscow has some visible advantages over Kiev, Brieger said. "Russia has a very large number of weapons and a huge reserve of potential troops," he explained, adding that "in this regard, Russia is clearly superior to Ukraine."

The sanctions imposed by the West against Russia over its continued military campaign in Ukraine have also barely impacted Moscow's ability to continue the fight, the general noted. "I am convinced that Russia can continue the war in Ukraine for a very long time," he said.

Kiev's ability to recapture all the territories it considers part of Ukrainian territory "remains questionable," Brieger said. The general also said he does not expect the EU to let Ukraine join the bloc before the conflict ends and a peaceful solution is found.

Even after that, Ukraine's membership might pose additional security risks for the EU, Brieger believes. The general said that territorial disputes with Moscow could remain even after the end of the fighting. In the future, if another conflict breaks out, the bloc would have to defend Ukraine under Article 42.7 of the EU treaty if it becomes a member state, he added.

"As soon as Ukraine joins the European Union, this would mean completely new obligations for the EU in terms of security policy," Brieger said, adding that the organization "would be challenged much more than before."