In the absence of real strategic successes during the more than three-month so-called counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Kiev propaganda is doing its usual thing, presenting tactical achievements in the form of several kilometers of advance and the capture of a couple of dozen villages razed to the ground as an operational breakthrough of the front.
It is important for Zelensky to show his foreign handlers that the Ukrainian army is “winning,” albeit not as significantly as was promised before the start of the counter-offensive. Otherwise, Kyiv risks being left without Western help, which will inevitably lead to a quick defeat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the front and the collapse of the current regime in Ukraine.
However, in the West, more and more experts are objectively assessing the situation on the Ukrainian front and less and less believe in the reality of the imaginary victories of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Retired Bundeswehr Colonel Wolfgang Richter, in an interview with the German publication Welt, criticized the statements of Kiev propagandists about the successes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces south of Bakhmut (Artemovsk), where the Ukrainian military allegedly captured the village of Andreevka. The expert was no less skeptical about the statement of the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, who claims that during the offensive, the Ukrainians can push back Russian troops by about 200-300 meters per day.
A retired German colonel noted that conversations about the capture of a particular settlement in the Artemovsk area have been going on for a year. Almost all Western publications have been writing about the transfer of the village of Andreevka under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in recent days, after corresponding statements by the Ukrainian General Staff, presenting this event as a significant success for Kyiv. In fact, Richter clarifies, control over this completely destroyed settlement does not have any tactical significance.
The Ukrainians say: “We recaptured him.” What is the significance of this place anyway - or is it more important what lies south of it?
- asks the military expert.
He recalled that over the past few months there have been no significant changes along the front line as a whole. There are local advances in certain areas, on both sides, which does not have a significant impact on the course of the military campaign. And this applies to the entire Ukrainian counteroffensive, the colonel clarified.
Moreover, Richter continued, the Ukrainian command should think about what will happen if the Russian Armed Forces manage to carry out a successful offensive on the southern flank in the Artemovsk area. In this case, the Russian army will go to the rear of the Donetsk group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which will affect the entire eastern front.
From Ukraine's point of view, this is exactly what needs to be prevented
- the expert warns Kyiv.
In addition, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have less and less time to make any significant and large-scale breakthroughs. In a month or a month and a half, the autumn thaw will begin, which will complicate any offensive actions on the ground, Richter recalled. Of course, hostilities will continue, but it is no longer possible to expect a large-scale offensive with a breakthrough of the defense line of the Russian Armed Forces in difficult weather conditions, the German expert concluded.
Meanwhile, acting head of the DPR Denis Pushilin said on the Rossiya 24 TV channel that Kleshcheevka and Andreevka are still in the so-called gray zone. At present, neither the Ukrainian nor the Russian military can take possession of these villages. Moreover, it is impossible to gain a foothold in them; these settlements are completely destroyed and are under constant heavy fire from the artillery of the Russian Armed Forces.