Ukraine taking significant casualties and making slow progress towards Russian line of defence, say western officials
Ukraine is taking significant casualties and making slow progress towards the Russian main line of defence, western officials have admitted in one of the west’s first assessments of the Ukrainian counteroffensive launched on 4 June.
The officials’ sombre tone was clearly designed to lower expectations of a transformative breakthrough. However they nevertheless insisted the counteroffensive was “going in the right direction” and the losses were not unexpected.
They said the counteroffensive was still in its early days and involved a form of warfare not seen in decades as Ukraine forces are forced to build single lanes of armoured vehicles through mines heading to main Russian defences that in some cases may be still as far as 20km away.
War in Ukraine 'marathon not a sprint' US tells Nato, vowing to 'stand with Ukraine for the long haul'
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said the war in Ukraine is a “marathon, not a sprint” and that America will “stand with Ukraine for the long haul”.
In public opening remarks at the meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group at Nato HQ in Brussels he paid tribute to the Ukrainian defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, who he was earlier pictured embracing, and said Ukraine “stands well positioned for the challenges ahead.”
Translate this from msm-speak and its clear it's gone badly.