‘Tough duel’ ahead for Ukraine as Russia mounts fierce resistance to counteroffensive

It’s becoming increasingly clear that Ukraine could have a long and bloody slog ahead of it when it comes to its counteroffensive aiming at recapturing Russian-occupied territory in the south and east of the country.

While still in its infancy, Ukraine’s counteroffensive has produced only limited gains so far, with eight settlements reclaimed in the last two weeks. Ukrainian officials are the first to admit that the country’s armed forces face a “tough duel” with Russia in the weeks and months ahead.
“We knew from before we started [the counteroffensive] that this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park,” Yuriy Sak, a senior advisor in Ukraine’s defense ministry, told CNBC Tuesday.

“We knew that Russians had months to prepare for it, we knew that they have built very, very strongly-fortified defense lines, that they have laid millions of mines along the front line. They’re dug in so deep, that we already had a very good idea that this will be not an easy task,” he added.

Fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces has intensified over recent weeks as Kyiv launched counteroffensive operations in at least three areas of the frontline spanning southern to eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar announced Monday that over the past week, Ukrainian troops in the Zaporizhia direction in southern Ukraine had advanced up to seven kilometers (4.3 miles) and liberated 113 square kilometers (43.6 square miles) of territory, including eight settlements.

But in later comments last night, Maliar conceded that it “is quite difficult for our defenders to advance, because the enemy threw all their forces to stop the offensive,” adding that the fighting “is hot both in the east and in the south” of the country.

“Despite the fact that our troops are advancing in several directions of the south, the enemy is concentrating a lot of his efforts in the east and continues to advance there,” she noted in comments translated by Google.

“The enemy will not give up positions easily and we must prepare for the fact that it will be a tough duel. [that’s] exactly what is happening now.”
Russians ‘not running away’ this time
Defense analysts have said they expect Ukraine to launch bigger counterattacks on Russian forces in the months to come, and suggest its early phase has been used to probe for weaknesses in Russia’s defensive lines.

Maliar appeared to endorse that view, stating: “The ongoing operation has several tasks and the military is carrying out these tasks. They move as they were supposed to move. And the biggest blow is yet to come.” She did not elaborate further.