According to a US think tank, Russia’s new offensive in Ukraine already appears to have stalled.
The overall pace of Russian operations in Ukraine appears to have slowed compared to previous weeks, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted in its daily assessment of the conflict on Wednesday.
This is what Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, said news week in a February interview that Russia had already started an offensive and that a counter-offensive from Kiev was imminent. The ISW said Russia had barely expanded its territory in Ukraine in a month of its new offensive.
The think tank noted that Colonel Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Tavriisk Defense Forces Joint Press Center, said on Wednesday Russian offensive actions had declined significantly over the past week, while daily Russian ground attacks had dropped from 90 to 100 attacks per day to 20 to 29 per day.
Dmytrashkivskyi reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces have somewhat lost their offensive potential due to “significant losses in manpower and equipment.”
The ISW said Dmytrashkivskyi’s statements are consistent with his general observation of the pace of Russian operations along the entire frontline in Ukraine.
“Russia’s offensive operation in Luhansk Oblast is probably nearing its peak, if not already peaked, although Russia has committed most elements of at least three divisions of the Svatove-Kreminna line,” the think tank said, using a military term , which signifies the point at which a unit is too overwhelmed or exhausted to continue its advance.
Over the past week, Russian forces have made minimal tactical advances along the entire Lugansk Oblast frontline, while Ukrainian forces may have recently managed to counterattack and reclaim territory, according to the think tank.
Overall, according to the ISW, the Russian armed forces have not yet been able to make any significant gains in the new offensive.
The think tank told it shop indoorsR that Russia increased its controlled territory in Ukraine by less than 0.04 percent in February, the month that Russia’s new offensive began. Between January 31 and February 28, Russia gained just 0.039 percent more territory in Ukraine — about 233.94 square kilometers (90.3 sq mi) — the ISW said.
Ukraine’s own counter-offensive was eagerly awaited. Gerashchenko said news week last month that Ukraine is “awaiting shipments of Western equipment to launch our own counteroffensive.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s top adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Presidential Office, told the Italian newspaper The pressure that Ukraine’s military is now focused on maintaining control of the city of Bakhmut. He said Ukraine’s armed forces are preparing for a counter-offensive that will begin in about two months.
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