Ukraine admits, lightning counterattack 'only exists in fairy tales'

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksei Danilov said he wanted Ukraine's counterattack to be faster, but the reality was not as expected.

“I really want things to go faster, but this only happens in fairy tales. This is hard work. This is a front, not a walk in the park. We need to be patient,” Mr. Danilov said on television.

Russia launched a preemptive strike and laid out a well-planned defense for a long time. Meanwhile, Ukraine tried to counterattack when facing many unfavorable factors. Former US military intelligence officer Scott Ritter also admitted that the counterattack had no chance of success. According to Mr. Ritter, NATO knew the counterattack would fail from the beginning.

“That counterattack had no legitimate military purpose, but was carried out solely for political reasons,” Mr. Ritter commented, emphasizing that NATO only wanted to hurt Russia by pouring tens of billions of dollars into Ukraine.

According to Ritter, NATO is not really interested in Ukraine itself, but only wants to achieve the political goal of creating the impression of continued aid. This content will be discussed by NATO at their summit in Vilnius (Lithuania) on July 11.

The full-scale Ukrainian counteroffensive is taking place in the Yuzhno-Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Artyomovsk directions. The Armed Forces of Ukraine have lost 259 tanks and 780 armored vehicles since the start of the counteroffensive. In the Orekhovsky direction alone, 41 tanks and 102 armored vehicles were lost last week.