MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th June, 2023) The Ukrainian military has not made any significant progress during the counteroffensive, as the areas where Kiev claimed it made gains were not even close to the battlefield or Russia's key defensive build-up, ex-Pentagon official and military historian Douglas Macgregor said.
"You begin to look at these reports of Ukrainian gains, you discover that in many cases the areas where they are claiming that they made gains are nowhere near the battlefield, they are not even in the security zone ... I would tell you there have been no gains at all because everything always finished on the ability of the Ukrainian counteroffensive to reach the main defensive build-up, crack it, move through it in order to reach something of importance like Melitopol; it has not happened," Macgregor told the Judging Freedom show on YouTube.
Ukraine has touted its coming offensive since late 2022. It was first scheduled for the spring, then rescheduled to the summer. The Ukrainian government said the postponement was due to a shortage of weapons, all while pushing its Western donors to supply progressively heavier arms, including tanks, drones and fighter jets.
Ukrainian troops launched a large-scale offensive in five sectors of the South Donetsk direction on June 4 but failed to achieve their goals, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
