WASHINGTON – Ukrainian forces have made “remarkable progress” against Russia in the southern Zaporizhia region in recent days, the Biden administration said Friday, while warning critics of Kiev’s counteroffensive to stop playing “marshal of field of armchair”.
“We’ve all seen the criticism from anonymous officials, who frankly don’t help the overall effort, which is to make sure Ukraine can succeed, and they are and they have,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. . on a conference call.
“We have observed in the last 72 hours or so some notable progress by the Ukrainian armed forces on that southern line of advance leading out of the Zaporizhzhia area,” he added.
“And they have achieved some success against that second line of Russian defenses.”
“Now where they go from here and how they build on that success, I’ll leave them to discuss, but we’ve seen some remarkable progress,” Kirby repeated.
The Russians have controlled the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, since the early days of the war, though fighting has continued in the area throughout the 18-month conflict.
In recent weeks, Washington’s discontent with the pace and strategy behind Ukraine’s two-and-a-half-month-old counterattack has come to the fore, with multiple media outlets citing unnamed defense officials pessimistic that the forces of Kiev can break through the Russian lines.
Some Western military experts told the Post this week that they had encouraged Ukraine to concentrate its forces in specific areas, but Kiev has instead ordered its troops to spread out throughout the eastern theater, limiting the units’ effectiveness.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba attends an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Toledo, Spain, on Thursday. REUTERS
Echoing the Biden administration’s line on Friday, Kirby said Ukraine must fight the war and that recent news from the battlefield should inspire critics to have more confidence in its abilities and strategies.
“Any objective observer of this counteroffensive cannot deny that they have now made progress,” Kirby said Friday. “It has been slow in some areas, slower than [Ukrainians] They have said themselves that they would like to go, but they have been fighting every day with bravery and bravery and we have been trying to get them what they need.
“Intervening from the sidelines and criticizing a partner and a friend as they try to make progress in bloody, ugly and violent conditions is not helping the overall effort,” he added.
“It’s not about them responding to our criticism, it’s about us responding to their needs to be more successful on the battlefield.”
Despite the progress in Zaporizhzhia, Kirby acknowledged that the Ukrainians “still have some hard fighting ahead of them” as they try to push the battle lines further south towards the Crimea.
Some Western military experts told the Post this week that they had encouraged Ukraine to concentrate its forces in specific areas, but Kiev has instead ordered its troops to spread out throughout the eastern theater, limiting the units’ effectiveness. REUTERS
“They know it better than anyone,” he said.
“What we focus on is making sure that they are prepared to maintain that progress, that they have the tools and techniques, that they have the training, that they have the capabilities to continue that progress again at a reasonable price. pace that they decide is appropriate.”
Kirby also warned that Ukraine’s recent gains may prompt Russia to strike back, but the US has so far not observed any attempts to “roll back some of that progress.”
“We are not seeing anything significant… that leads us to believe that the Ukrainians still do not have the ability and opportunity to continue to make some progress,” he said.
Still, the NSC representative said, Moscow is still in the fight, “the rain[ing] “Shooting down” ballistic and cruise missiles against Ukrainian cities, in addition to launching drone attacks from Iran.
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn