Ukrainian Top General Admits Counteroffensive ‘in Stalemate, NATO Textbooks Did Not Help Much’

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier stressed that Kiev's summer counteroffensive proved to be a total failure, not just a stalemate.

Kiev needs to take a massive technological leap to break the current stalemate in its counteroffensive against Russian troops, the Ukrainian army’s Сommander-in-Сhief General Valery Zaluzhny has admitted in an interview with the UK's Economist magazine.

“There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough,” he elaborated.

The general also acknowledged that “NATO’s textbooks” and “the math” that Kiev did to plan the counteroffensive had failed to prevent Russian forces from effectively tackling Ukrainian troops.

Zaluzhny said that if one looks at these textbooks and the math, “four months should have been enough time for us [the Ukrainian army] to have reached Crimea, to have fought in Crimea, to return from Crimea and to have gone back in and out again.”

He referred to the peninsula, which opted to split off from Ukraine after the February 2014 Euromaidan coup, voting overwhelmingly in a referendum in March 2014 to rejoin Russia. Ukraine had planned to recapture Crimea during the unsuccessful counteroffensive in the summer.

Zaluzhny added that he was concerned about the fact that "sooner or later we [Kiev] will realize that we simply don't have enough people to fight.

Late last month, a British newspaper reported that Ukraine's botched counteroffensive had caused friction between Zaluzhny and President Volodymyr Zelensky.

According to the paper, Zelensky insists on further counteroffensive attempts, while Zaluzhny says the focus should be on the Ukrainian army holding current positions and preparing for next year's assault.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin described Kiev’s summer counteroffensive attempt as a total failure, not a stalemate, which he said cost the lives of more than 90,000 Ukrainian soldiers and led to the loss of over 500 Ukrainian tanks.