Ukraine’s Counter-offensive Failing – Putin

Ukraine’s counteroffensive to retake occupied territory is failing, according to President Vladimir Putin on Friday, July 21 even with military assistance from the West.

According to the British defence secretary, as part of their summer counteroffensive, Ukraine’s forces have taken back 300 square kilometres of occupied territory.

This Monday, the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces acknowledged that the tactical circumstances in eastern Ukraine were “complicated.”

“Today it’s clear that the Kyiv regime’s Western curators are disappointed with the results of the so-called counteroffensive,” Putin said at a meeting of Russia’s Security Council.

“There are no results, at least not yet,” he told senior government and security officials.

In addition to “thousands of foreign mercenaries and advisers,” Putin claimed Kyiv has not been aided in achieving its military goals by the Western tanks, artillery, armoured vehicles, and missiles that are no longer being shipped to Ukraine.

The Russian president asserted that “tens of thousands” of Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and injured as a result of the offensive without offering any supporting data.

Moscow continues to conceal the number of soldiers it has lost in battle; in September 2022, it revealed that it had lost around 6,000 men.

In light of the consequences of the Russian Wagner mercenary group’s attempted mutiny, Putin made comments that denigrated the Ukrainian military while complimenting the “professionalism” of his army.

In his speech to the Security Council, Putin asserted that some Soviet weaponry was significantly more effective than those sent to Ukraine by Western allies.

“The entire West sees that their praised equipment burns perfectly well and is even inferior to Soviet machines in some respects,” he said.

Putin also asserted, without offering any proof, that sentiments in Europe and Ukraine were “gradually and slowly” shifting toward the desired course of action for Russia, which called for holding peace negotiations and retaining authority over occupied regions.