{"id":725,"date":"2023-07-23T19:17:21","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T01:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freelyinformed.com\/blog\/?p=725"},"modified":"2023-07-23T19:17:22","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T01:17:22","slug":"wsj-ukraines-long-expected-offensive-appears-stalled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freelyinformed.com\/blog\/wsj-ukraines-long-expected-offensive-appears-stalled\/","title":{"rendered":"WSJ: “Ukraine’s Long-Expected Offensive Appears Stalled”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Wall Street Journal<\/a> is reporting today that Ukraine’s vaunted “Counter-offensive” against Russian Forces appears to be “stalled.” Further, they report U.S. Officials knew it was likely to be this way because Russia has air supremacy over the area where the fighting is the most intense. Yet, they went ahead with supporting the counter-offensive – knowing it would likely not succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

BRUSSELS\u2014When Ukraine launched its big counteroffensive this spring, Western military officials knew Kyiv didn\u2019t have all the training or weapons\u2014from shells to warplanes\u2014that it needed to dislodge Russian forces<\/a>. But they hoped Ukrainian courage and resourcefulness would carry the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They haven\u2019t. Deep and deadly minefields<\/a>, extensive fortifications and Russian air power have combined to largely block significant advances by Ukrainian troops. Instead, the campaign risks descending into a stalemate with the potential to burn through lives and equipment without a major shift in momentum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the likelihood of any large-scale breakthrough by the Ukrainians this year dims, it raises the unsettling prospect for Washington and its allies of a longer war\u2014one that would require a\u00a0huge new infusion<\/a>\u00a0of sophisticated armaments and more training to give Kyiv a chance at victory. . . . . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shift in trans-Atlantic political winds, evident in tensions between Ukrainian President\u00a0Volodymyr Zelensky\u00a0and U.S. officials at the recent North Atlantic Treaty Organization\u00a0summit in Lithuania<\/a>, has come as Ukraine\u2019s long-expected offensive appears stalled<\/strong>. Kyiv\u2019s inability to make headway against Russian defenses has persuaded many Western military observers that Ukrainian forces need more training in complex military maneuvers, more-potent air defenses and much more armor. . . . . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Defense Department analysts knew early this year that Ukraine\u2019s front-line troops would struggle against\u00a0Russian air attacks<\/a>. A classified Pentagon assessment from February, allegedly leaked by Air National Guard Airman\u00a0Jack Teixeira, tallied a tiny number of weapons in Ukrainian hands able to hit distant aircraft and cited the risk of \u201cinability to prevent Russian air superiority.\u201d. . . . . <\/p>\nWALL STREET JOURNAL<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Ukraine’s vaunted “Counter-offensive” against Russian Forces appears to be “stalled.” Further, they report U.S. Officials knew it was likely to be this way because Russia has air supremacy over the area where the fighting is the most intense. Yet, they went ahead with supporting the counter-offensive – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[102,8,125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-russia","category-russia-ukraine","category-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freelyinformed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freelyinformed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freelyinformed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freelyinformed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freelyinformed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freelyinformed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":726,"href":"https:\/\/freelyinformed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725\/revisions\/726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freelyinformed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freelyinformed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freelyinformed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}