The original headline at the time I bookmarked this included the words “more time was needed”.. Perhaps that didn’t sound as reassuring for the western audience?
There has been no rout at the front as claimed in the article. So, the long awaited counteroffensive, according to Zelensky, will begin when Ukraine forces receive their full complement of armoured vehicles. When that will be?
May 11 (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia’s invasion force had yet to start, even as his generals claimed some of their biggest battlefield successes in months.
Kyiv says it has pushed Russian forces back over the past several days near the eastern city of Bakhmut in local assaults, while a full-blown counteroffensive involving tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of Western tanks is still being prepared.
“We still need a bit more time,” Zelenskiy said in an interview with European broadcasters.
Ukrainian forces had already received enough equipment from Western allies for their campaign but were waiting for the full complement of armoured vehicles to arrive to reduce their casualties, Zelenskiy said.
In a major step up in Western military support for Ukraine, Britain announced it was sending Storm Shadow cruise missiles that would give Kyiv the ability to strike targets deep behind Russian lines.
How anyone can credibly believe or state that this is not NATO targeting Russia is beyond my comprehension- It’s obvious.
“The key here is to give Ukraine that capability. To defend itself,” Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told parliament in London.
Western countries including the United States had previously held back from providing long range weapons for fear of provoking Russian retaliation. Wallace said Britain had weighed the risk.
The war in Ukraine is at a turning point, with Kyiv poised to unleash its new counterstrike after six months of keeping its forces on the defensive, while Russia mounted a huge winter offensive that failed to capture significant territory. (Was there a huge offensive? I know your supposed to believe that, but, was there?)
Western allies are sending hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles to Ukraine for its counteroffensive and have trained thousands of Ukrainian troops abroad. (Just Ukrainians?)
Some Ukrainian officials have tried to manage expectations for their counteroffensive, cautioning against expecting a swift repeatof Ukraine’s big military successes last year, when it pushed Russian forces back from Kyiv’s outskirts ( did this actually happen?) and recaptured swathes of occupied territory in unexpected breakthroughs. (Unexpected breakthroughs? Means the Russian forces left and allowed for the Ukrainians to step in- this would be a Kherson reference)
Russia’s Kherson withdrawal is tactical
Russia is determined to defend the sixth of Ukraine’s territory that it has occupied and claims to have annexed forever. In the six months since the last major Ukrainian advance it has built extensive fortifications along the front. Penetrating that with an armoured assault would be far more complicated than anything Ukraine’s forces have attempted yet.