According to Czech President Petr Pavel, Ukraine has only one chance to counterattack in 2023. Meanwhile, the US television channel CNN said that Russia's multi-layered defense is difficult to penetrate.
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| The Czech President affirmed that Ukraine needs to make good use of the opportunity to counterattack this year if it wants to gain an advantage in the conflict. (Source: Ukrinform) |
On June 18, Czech President Petr Pavel, former Chairman of the Military Committee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said that if Ukrainian forces do not achieve positive results in the upcoming counter-offensive campaign, the Kiev government will no longer have enough strength and resources to launch a new counter-offensive, at least until the end of this year.
If this happens, negotiations could be held to end the conflict or to hold a ceasefire until Kiev can gather enough new forces to launch a counter-offensive. Mr. Pavel said that Ukraine has only one chance this year and if it fails, Kiev will find it difficult in principle to mount a second counter-offensive for objective reasons.
According to the Czech leader, Kiev has not yet used its core forces in the conflict, but is still trying to exploit weaknesses in the multi-layered defense line of the Russian army.
Commenting on the counter-offensive campaign of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (VSU), the US television channel CNN said that Kiev's offensive momentum has not met observers' expectations.
CNN journalist Tim Lister affirmed that the Zaporizhzhia direction was identified by Ukraine as the key area, but in reality it is difficult to penetrate Russia's multi-layered defense.
Besides, in addition to Zaporizhzhia, by operating around Bakhmut and other locations in the East, the VSU is trying to disperse Russian troops in many directions to expose Moscow's weakness.
Since Russia needs to defend a winding, 1,000km-long front line, the VSU can use it as a basis for counterattacks. However, because the positions held by the Russians are heavily defended and Kiev lacks air superiority, this is expected to be a major challenge to Ukraine's combat capabilities.
Mr. Lister also noted that Russia has spent several months reinforcing its defenses here, so there is little chance that the Ukrainians will be able to launch a lightning attack like they did in Kharkov last fall.
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