Ukraine's ‘blitzkrieg’ strategy has failed, so where does that leave its much-hyped counteroffensive?

"The counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), widely hyped by Ukrainian and Western officials since the beginning of the year, has been going on for nearly a month. Since June 4, Kiev's forces have been trying to advance on the southern section of the frontlines in Zaporozhye Region and in the western part of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).

The anticipated ‘blitzkrieg’ strategy was not successful and the Ukrainian offensive became

stuck in positional warfare, losing a lot of the military equipment provided to it by the West. By the end of June, Kiev managed to occupy a mere eight villages, but was not able to reach the main Russian fortifications. Russian Federation built a deep line of defense, a task which involved civilian workers. Near Melitopol, it constructed a defense line in two echelons with a forefield and two security zones. Tokmak and the village of Ocherevatoye were prepared for point defense. 

The Vremyevsky salient – the most vulnerable section of defense

On June 4, Ukraine launched its counteroffensive with a distracting (later to become the main) strike on the Vremyevsky salient. Apparently, this was intended to pull out the Russian Army’s reserves and draw them into battle in this area. These attacks continued for several days but were unsuccessful. 

During the second attack on June 10, Ukraine’s army acted more effectively, and by June 13, Russia retreated from the villages of Novodarovka, Neskuchnoye, Storozhevoye, Blagodatnoye, and Makarovka. On June 26, the Ukrainians took control of Rovnopol and some positions in the fields on the way to Novodonetsky and Priyutnoye.

In the course of three weeks of fighting, the AFU captured six villages, which were all evacuated ahead of time. It should be noted that the Vryemyevsky salient was initially extremely inconvenient for Russian defense – surrounded by Ukrainian forces from the flanks,....June 7, the AFU started moving in the direction of Melitopol. Initially, this was the task of the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade, a unit which had earlier suffered many casualties. Going in the direction of Vasilevka, the brigade tried to occupy the village of Lobkovo.

The next day, the AFU launched an offensive supposedly headed by the 47th Mechanized Brigade and armed with the new German Leopard tanks. This attack ended badly for the Ukrainians – the operation failed, Western equipment was destroyed, and Russia published damaging video footage which went viral online.The Ukrainian online resource DeepState, which shows a live map of the war, temporarily closed the comments section and later published an “uncomfortable analysis” of the events, slamming Ukrainian officials and politicians who claimed that their army had not launched a counteroffensive yet. According to Ukrainian political observers, the behavior of the officials devalued the lives of the country's soldiers.

Increased pressure on the front forced the Russian Army to retreat from two other villages – Lobkovoe and Pyatikhatka, where lengthy battles took place. Presently, the Russian Army is holding its defensive positions near the village of Zherebyanka.

To the east, the AFU was able to advance through the fields in the direction of the village of Rabotino, which is on the road from Orekhov to Tokmak. Both sides have suffered losses but Ukraine is also losing a vital asset – time – as the pace of the counteroffensive slows down.....the Russian Air Force is constantly attacking UFU warehouses and staging areas. 

Every two weeks, Ukrainian journalist Roman Shrike polls his Telegram subscribers on the estimated duration of the war. On June 15, the option that the war will continue for ‘more than another year’ received over 50% of votes for the first time." RT