Financial Times: The West failed to prepare the Ukrainian Armed Forces for a counter-offensive

The West failed to properly train Ukrainian troops before the counter-offensive, writes the Financial Times.

The publication writes that Kyiv’s allies must acknowledge shortcomings in the training and equipment of the Ukrainian armed forces, which contributed to “disappointing progress” during the counteroffensive.

The article says one of the main lessons of the counteroffensive is that Western training of Ukrainian troops, usually lasting five weeks, is too short.

Yet some U.S. officials privately blamed Ukraine rather than their trainers and complained that Ukraine had failed to master modern operations that combined mechanized infantry, artillery and air defense and had been too risk-averse in its approach.

The publication also generally acknowledges the mistakes made when planning the counteroffensive. “The idea that Ukrainian troops, without any air cover, would break through Russian positions has always been more a Hollywood plot than reality,” writes the FT.

The publication notes that three months after the start of the counteroffensive, Zelensky and his government are faced with the reality that they failed to achieve the desired decisive breakthrough and are now “preparing for a protracted war.”

The FT writes that a more realistic view now prevails among Ukrainian officials that the conflict will develop slowly, and the question is whether Ukraine’s Western supporters are willing to support the country in the long term.

The article states that Ukraine has returned to a campaign of attrition. It notes that the Russian Armed Forces “continue to learn from their adversaries and adapt their tactics, whether through dispersing supply lines, increasing the use of drones, or repelling Ukrainian attacks.”

According to the author of the article, the situation “has entered a clinch, where neither side has a decisive military advantage.”