Peace in Ukraine? Faltering Counter-Offensive, Failed Coup, by Geoff Roberts

The Ukraine-Russia War shapes up as a monumental disaster for Ukraine, the U.S., and NATO. From Geoff Roberts at antiwar.com:

So far, Ukraine’s month-long “counter-offensive” has been a very costly failure. Attacks on Russian forces in the southern province of Zaporozhe have yet to achieve any significant strategic success, and the same is true all along the line of contact. Some of Kiev’s most fervent supporters are beginning to doubt Ukraine’s armed forces have the firepower to penetrate Russia’s multi-layered defensive belt, which bristles with minefields, tank traps, trenches and concrete bunkers.

“Prepare for Ukraine’s counteroffensive to falter,” Colonel Richard Kemp warns conservative readers of the UK’s Daily Telegraph.

Expectations that Russia’s supposedly demoralized soldiers would cut and run at the first opportunity have been dashed, while Russian artillery and air forces have cut a destructive swathe through Ukraine’s western-supplied tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.

A stronger attack by the Ukrainians might gain some traction but the cost will be brutal and any breakthrough difficult to sustain. According to US Staff Chief, General Mark Milley, the Ukrainian offensive is “going to be difficult. It’s going to be very long, and it’s going to be very, very bloody.”

Irrespective of the final outcome of current battles, the war of attrition with Russia will go on, and that is a fight Ukraine cannot hope to win. No amount of western military aid can tilt the balance of power in Ukraine’s favor– Russia has too many troops, tanks, planes and guns. Russia’s defense industry is out-performing western arms manufacturers and President Vladimir Putin is well able to add to the hundreds of thousands of soldiers he has already mobilized and deployed

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