According to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, Ukraine has 30-45 days left before its offensive gets bogged down in bad weather. He told BBC, in an interview this morning, that colder conditions would make it much harder for Ukraine to maneuver. He admitted the offensive had gone more slowly than expected. But he said: “There’s still heavy fighting going on. “The Ukrainians are still plugging away with steady progress.”
Milley said it was too early to say whether the counteroffensive had failed, but said Ukraine was “progressing at a very steady pace through the Russian front lines.”
“There’s still a reasonable amount of time, probably about 30 to 45 days’ worth of fighting weather left, so the Ukrainians aren’t done,” he said. “There’s battles not done ... they haven’t finished the fighting part of what they’re trying to accomplish.”
Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the newly promoted chief of the Kiev regime’s military intelligence, GUR, on the other hand vowed that the offensive will continue, regardless of the weather. “Combat actions will continue in one way or another. In the cold, wet and mud, it is more difficult to fight. Fighting will continue. The counteroffensive will continue,” Budanov was quoted by Reuters as saying. His comments made at a conference in Kiev, offer the strongest indication to date that Ukraine does not plan to halt its push when the weather turns later this year, says Reuters.
“Our counteroffensive is happening in several directions,” Budanov said further, acknowledging that progress had been slower than he had wanted and describing the situation as difficult. Apart from the huge concentration of Russian mines, he identified the large number of small Russian “kamikaze” drones as a key factor that had slowed Ukraine’s progress so far. Budanov was likely referring to Russia’s Lancet drone, which has proven to be quite deadly, though Russia has other types as well.
