Ukraine also needed to prepare for personnel losses, which are expected to be comparable to last year’s, he said. 2023’s counteroffensive — the training for which I was present, and in which I participated, leaving Ukraine in mid-May as it was beginning — was doomed from the outset. The military lacked the weapons needed to fight and win while attacking anywhere, particularly in the south, which was heavily fortified by Russia. The military was not afforded enough time to train units for offense, which is a particularly difficult thing to coordinate in modern war. Furthermore, the counteroffensive was micromanaged not only by internal politics, which required it, but also by external allies desperate for Ukrainian victory.

Source: Washington Post February 03, 2024 05:38 UTC