WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th July, 2023) The US and Ukrainian military now abstain from making forecasts regarding future success in the counteroffensive because Russia has a clear advantage on the battlefield, US journalist Seymour Hersh reported on Thursday, citing a US official.
"The American and Ukrainian military are no longer making any predictions," the US official was quoted by Hersh as saying. "The Ukrainian army has not gotten past the first of three Russian defense lines. Every mine the Ukrainians dig up is replenished at night by the Russians."
The reality, the official said, "is that the balance of power in the war is settled. Putin has what he wants."
Ukraine is not capable of returning Crimea, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, the official noted.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has "no plan, except to hang on," they observed.
Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in early June, trying to break through the defense lines of the Russian armed forces in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. Their attempts have been unsuccessful and resulted in heavy losses in armored equipment and manpower, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
