US officials believe Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia will not succeed, report

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Officials from the US intelligence community have told the Washington Post that they believe Ukraine’s Spring counteroffensive against Russia’s invasion will not succeed in its principal aims. The new report by the Washington Post echoes a similar report by the Wall Street Journal published last month, according to which Western officials said they did not believe Ukraine had the necessary equipment or training to push back the Russian offensive.

Having spoken to Western and Ukrainian officials familiar with the matter, the Washington Post said: “In the first week of fighting, Ukraine incurred major casualties against Russia’s well-prepared defenses despite having a range of newly acquired Western equipment, including US Bradley Fighting Vehicles, German-made Leopard 2 tanks and specialized mine-clearing vehicles.”

“Joint war games conducted by the US, British and Ukrainian militaries anticipated such losses but envisioned Kyiv accepting the casualties as the cost of piercing through Russia’s main defensive line, said US and Western officials,” WaPo reported.

“When Ukraine launched its big counteroffensive this spring, Western military officials knew Kyiv didn’t have all the training or weapons – from shells to warplanes – that it needed to dislodge Russian forces,” WaPo said. “But they hoped Ukrainian courage and resourcefulness would carry the day. They haven’t.”

A senior Biden Administration official told WaPo that giving Ukraine more weapons would not necessarily have helped. “The problem remains piercing Russia’s main defensive line, and there’s no evidence these systems would’ve been a panacea,” the official said.

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