WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine tells critics of slow counteroffensive to 'shut up'

Ukraine told critics of the pace of its three-month-old counteroffensive to "shut up" on Thursday, the sharpest signal yet of Kyiv's frustration at leaks from Western officials who say its forces are advancing too slowly.

Since launching a much vaunted counteroffensive using many billions of dollars of Western military equipment, Ukraine has recaptured more than a dozen villages but has yet to penetrate Russia's main defences.

Stories in the New York Times, Washington Post and other news organisations last week quoted U.S. and other Western officials as suggesting the offensive was falling short of expectations. Some faulted Ukraine's strategy, including accusing it of concentrating its forces in the wrong places.

Moscow says the Ukrainian campaign has already failed. Ukrainian commanders say they are moving slowly on purpose, degrading Russia's defences and logistics to reduce losses when they finally attack at full strength.

"Criticising the slow pace of (the) counteroffensive equals ... spitting into the face of (the) Ukrainian soldier who sacrifices his life every day, moving forward and liberating one kilometre of Ukrainian soil after another," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters on Thursday.

"I would recommend all critics to shut up, come to Ukraine and try to liberate one square centimetre by themselves," he said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Spain.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN that Ukrainian commanders deserved the benefit of the doubt.

"Ukrainians have exceeded expectations again and again," he said. "We need to trust them. We advise, we help, we support. But... it is the Ukrainians that have to make those decisions."

DEFENSIVE LINES

After months of fighting their way through heavy minefields, Ukraine's forces have finally reached the main Russian defensive lines in recent days, south of the village of Robotyne which they captured last week in Western Zaporizhzhia region.

They are now advancing between the nearby villages of Novopokropivka and Verbove, looking for a way around the anti-tank ditches and rows of concrete pyramids known as dragon's teeth that form Russia's main fortifications visible from space.

A breakthrough would provide the first test of Russia's deeper defences, which Ukraine hopes will be more vulnerable and less heavily mined than areas its troops have traversed so far.

A Ukrainian commander in the area told Reuters last week that his men had breached the most difficult line, reaching less heavily defended areas, and now expected to advance more quickly. Reuters could not independently verify this.

Kyiv rarely gives details of its offensive operations.

In a statement on Thursday, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar reported unspecified successes near Novopokropivka, without giving details.

She also said Ukrainian forces were advancing near Bakhmut, in the east, the only city Russia captured in its own offensive earlier this year. Heavy battles were engulfing villages south of the city, she said.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces, reported a "positive dynamic" near Bakhmut.

DRONE ATTACKS WITHIN RUSSIA

Ukraine has also stepped up drone attacks on targets deep within Russia and in Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.

Russia's Defence Ministry said it had destroyed a new Ukrainian drone over the Bryansk region in southern Russia.

It had earlier reported overnight drone attacks in Bryansk and said it had shot down a missile fired on Crimea, occupied and annexed by Russia in 2014.

The previous night, Moscow reported attempted Ukrainian drone strikes in six Russian regions, including one that caused a huge fire at a military air base in Pskov in northern Russia, damaging several giant military transport planes on the tarmac.

While Ukraine rarely comments directly on specific attacks inside Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appeared to boast of the Pskov attack twice on Thursday.

"The results of our weaponry -- new Ukrainian weaponry -- 700 km away," he said in his nightly video address. "And the task is to do more."

Ukraine's Western allies generally forbid Kyiv from using weapons they supply to attack Russian territory, but say Ukraine has a right to attacks military targets with its own weapons.

The assaults in recent weeks, including several on central Moscow over the past month, have brought the war home to many Russians for the first time after 18 months during which Russia has subjected Ukraine to countrywide air strikes.

Russia is also facing the aftermath of a mutiny two months ago by Wagner, a private army that had formed the main attack force of its own winter offensive earlier this year. Wagner's leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his main lieutenants were killed in an air crash last week.

The Kremlin has denied that it was behind the crash. President Vladimir Putin had called Prigozhin's mutiny treason but had promised not to punish him for it.

On Thursday, Prigozhin's right-hand man, Dmitry Utkin, a neo-Nazi former military intelligence officer whose call-sign Wagner gave the mercenary force its name, was buried at a cemetery near Moscow under guard of Russian military police. Prigozhin was buried near St Petersburg on Tuesday.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine to get US Abrams tanks within weeks – Politico

The first shipment of US-made M1 Abrams battle tanks is set to arrive in Ukraine in a matter of weeks, a Pentagon official told Politico, noting that 10 of the 31 tanks promised to Kiev are currently in Germany to complete refurbishments.

With dozens of Ukrainian troops wrapping up training on the US tank, the first delivery is expected sometime in mid-September, according to an unnamed defense official and another source familiar with the discussions cited by the outlet on Thursday.

The official added that the ten M1 Abrams tanks are now in Germany for final repairs and renovations. The Ukrainian soldiers instructed on the weapon have also trained at multiple bases in Germany, where they will remain until the tanks are ready.

“The US is committed to expedite delivery of the 31 tanks to Ukraine by the fall,” US Army spokesman Col. Martin O’Donnell told Politico, adding that the Ukrainian troops would continue training at the US Army base in Grafenwoehr, Germany.

Though the Pentagon initially predicted a longer timetable of more than one year for the Abrams shipments, officials vowed to speed up the process last March, instead opting to send the tank’s older M1A1 variant in hopes of completing the first transfer by the fall of 2023. The M1A1 models required major refurbishments, however, with the Pentagon saying the procedure would cost over $400 million.

President Joe Biden initially said he would not authorize the Abrams for Ukraine, but his administration later reversed course, ultimately pledging to transfer 31 M1A1 models in order to convince Berlin to send its own Leopard battle tanks. Western states have since promised to provide around 300 battle tanks in total.

News of the mid-September deadline came soon after the White House approved its latest weapons package for Ukraine, valued at some $250 million. The new aid includes additional munitions for the HIMARS rocket system, AIM-9M air defense missiles, Javelin and other anti-tank weapons, as well as 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition. Officials have voiced hopes the arms will assist Ukraine’s lagging summer counteroffensive, which has struggled to reclaim land from Russian forces.

Moscow has repeatedly condemned US arms shipments to Kiev, insisting they will only prolong fighting and do little to deter its objectives. The Russian Embassy in the United States blasted this week’s transfer as “the height of hypocrisy,” declaring that  US officials “will not give up the concept of fighting Russia to the last Ukrainian.”

** Ukrainian drones downed in Russia – governor

Three Ukrainian drones were downed on Thursday morning in Russia’s Bryansk Region, Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz has said. The Defense Ministry previously reported the interception of a single UAV in the region.

Bogomaz credited a member of the public with providing information about suspicious aircraft, which alerted the authorities and prompted a swift response by the National Guard and police.

Troops used “an anti-drone gun and a specialized carbine” to take down the UAVs, Bogomaz said. No casualties were reported.

According to Russian media, the aircraft were likely kamikaze versions of the UJ-22 Airborne model, which is produced by Ukrainian firm Ukrjet for the nation’s military.

One of the robotic planes reportedly crashed at the location of a hotel owned by the regional government.

Footage circulating online and purportedly filmed on Thursday morning shows a small aircraft flying at low altitude, as the cameraman comments that it is the third one to pass by.

Bryansk, which borders northern Ukraine, was among the Russian regions to be targeted in a large-scale Ukrainian drone raid on Wednesday.

On the same day, Russian troops engaged a Ukrainian saboteur squad in the region, killing two military service members and capturing five alive, the Federal Security Service (FSB) revealed on Thursday.

Reuters/RT