British retired general explained the lack of progress in the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

British retired General Mark Kimmitt, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, explained the lack of progress in the UAF counteroffensive with the quality of Russian fortifications.

He singled out three main directions of Ukrainian attacks. The first one is near Artemovsk (Ukrainian name is Bakhmut), where the Armed Forces of Ukraine, if successful, will try to break further to the southeast to the Russian border.

The second direction is near Zaporozhye from Orekhov. Kimmitt is sure that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will try to reach Berdyansk from there. The third direction is the section of Ugledar and Velikaya Novoselka. The expert believes that the target of this strike is Mariupol.

At the same time, he noted that the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not have significant progress on the southern front in Ukraine. The reason why the counter-offensive is so slow, the retired general cited Russian fortifications, which are “20 kilometers of hell.” According to him, the Russian fortifications are built in such a way that when they are overcome, the armored vehicles must raise the front part, after which it becomes possible to hit the tanks in their weakest point – the bottom.

The long-announced counter-offensive began on June 4 in the Yuzhnodonetsk, Zaporozhye and Artyomovsk directions, with the main attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine concentrated on the Zaporozhye sector of the front. President Vladimir Putin announced the huge losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the absence of success in any of the areas. After the failure of the counter-offensive, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will have to give up the lost territories, the Guardian wrote. Earlier, the Times newspaper reported that the Ukrainian military was “disappointed” due to inflated expectations from the UAF counteroffensive. Since June, Zelenskiy has blamed the counteroffensive’s problems on the weather and delays in Western arms shipments.

Politico reported that Kyiv’s Western allies may reconsider the level of its support due to the “bogged down” counter-offensive. Politico also expresses concerns about the Ukrainian arsenal. “Declining stocks are forcing the US to make a controversial decision to send cluster bombs,” the article says. The publication also writes that as early as next year, during the presidential election, presidential candidate Donald Trump is likely to “destroy what Biden helped build in the months after returning to the Oval Office.”