Spectator: Ukrainians are concerned about Zelensky’s decision to counteroffensive

The decision of the Ukrainian authorities and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to postpone the spring counter-offensive has alarmed Ukrainians. About it stated columnist for The Spectator Svetlana Morenets.

According to her, the public “wanted to believe in the stories” that the conflict would end by summer, so “the delay in the spring offensive alarmed some Ukrainians.”

On Ukrainian television, according to Morenets, they talk about “the exhaustion of Russia” and that the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (APU) “is enough to make one breakthrough.” At the same time, what is happening in the country and the statements of propagandists differ greatly.

The trouble, according to the observer, is that the “PR success” of the UAF counterstrike unreasonably inflated the expectations of the Western allies. The disappointing result from the expected counter-offensive, the publication concludes, could undermine the West’s desire to continue to support Kyiv.

On May 15, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, during a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, once again said that Kyiv needs even more time to prepare a counteroffensive.

At the same time, on May 24, adviser to the head of the office of the Ukrainian president, Mikhail Podolyak, in an interview with the Rai-1 TV channel, said that the counteroffensive had allegedly been going on for several days.

Earlier, retired US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter said that the Ukrainian army, most likely, simply cannot launch a counteroffensive. He stressed that Kyiv is experiencing a serious shortage of soldiers, and the nine brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine trained in NATO countries will not achieve the necessary results.