Despite missing necessary supplies and weaponry, the chief general of Ukraine claims that its soldiers are moving forward “500 metres every day.”
The commander-in-chief of the AFU, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, voiced displeasure over criticisms of Ukraine’s sluggish progress on the front lines and claimed the ongoing counteroffensive is “not a show.”
In an interview with the Washington Post, Zaluzhnyi said, “Every day, every metre is given by blood.”
Complaining about the slow delivery of weapons promised by the West, Zaluzhny said Kyiv’s Western allies would not themselves launch an offensive without air superiority, but expect Ukraine to do so despite failing to deliver F-16 fighters promised to the country on time.
‘I do not need 120 planes. I’m not going to threaten the whole world. A very limited number would be enough,’ he told the newspaper.
Ukraine started its long-awaited counteroffensive on June 8, with the bulk of fighting so far taking place in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
But unlike last autumn’s offensive, which saw Ukraine take back swathes of territory in Kharkiv and Kherson, battlefield gains have been much more modest this time around.
‘Without being fully supplied, these plans are not feasible at all,’ Zaluzhnyi told the Post. ‘But they are being carried out. Yes, maybe not as fast as the participants, the observers, would like, but that is their problem.’
However, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on June 28 that the main Ukraine’s attack is still yet to come.
Zaluzhnyi also mentioned that his forces are being outshelled by the Russians by a rate of ten to one, and that he is in constant contact with Pentagon Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley to coordinate ammo and munitions supplies.
‘We have an agreement: 24/7, we’re in touch. So, sometimes I can call up and say, “If I don’t get 100,000 shells in a week, 1,000 people will die. Step into my shoes,”’ he told the Washington Post.
‘It’s just that while that decision is being made, in the obvious situation, a lot of people die every day – a lot. Just because no decision has been made yet,’ he said.
‘This is not a show,’ he added. ‘It’s not a show the whole world is watching and betting on or anything. Every day, every metre is given by blood.’
According to a report from US-based think tank The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukrainian forces conducted counteroffensive operations along at least three sectors of the front line yesterday.
The operations continued in the Melitopol and Berdyansk directions in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, while troops achieved ‘partial success’ on the border of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia and north of the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, the ISW added.
According to Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar, troops are ‘confidently advancing’ on Bakhmut’s flanks and Russian forces have transferred a large number of troops to the area.
She added that Ukrainian forces are advancing with varying degrees of success in southern Ukraine, and that the counteroffensive should be evaluated by ‘a lot of different military tasks.’
Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy also ordered security to be beefed up at his country’s border with Belarus, where fighters from the Russian mercenary group Wagner have been offered exile after their attempted coup on Moscow’s military leaders last weekend.