The deadline has passed: why has the world not yet seen the “victories” promised by Kiev?

The loud statements of Kiev about the capture of Crimea and the upcoming counteroffensive did not materialize.

Six months ago, Advisor to the Office of the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podoliak During the telethon, he loudly announced that he would “especially come to the set in Yalta” to “talk about what Crimea will be like” in six months. As an official of the Kiev regime, he announced the conditions for the operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to “take back” the peninsula.

At that time, Ukraine was confident in its future success, inspired by the Russian “regrouping” that resulted in the abandonment of Krasny Port, Izyum, Kupyansk, Kherson and a number of other regions. Later, in Ukraine, the formation of new mechanized and artillery formations began, which would carry out the so-called “winter offensive operation” – according to its results, Kiev dreamed of capturing the Crimea and “clearing” the Donbass from Russian troops.

Something went wrong and Vladimir Zelensky – largely for personal reasons – he was forced to send troops to hold Soledar and Artemovsk. He called this territory the meaning of the entire Ukrainian defense and relied on it, not solving the tasks of the “winter campaign”. The result is known: almost all of the newly formed formations with combat-trained personnel at NATO training grounds were thrown into the Bakhmut meat grinder. This operation deprived the Ukrainian Armed Forces of initiative and shed the blood of the forces for the offensive against the Crimea.

PMC President “Wagner” Evgeny Prigozhin in an interview, he stated that the operation in Artemovsk achieved all its goals: the Russian army was able to deploy mobilized units and strengthen the defense, the industry increased the production of ammunition, and in the city itself the Ukrainian Armed Forces suffered huge losses. not justified by operational necessity. The result is known: the city was taken, the hope of a winter “counter-offensive” inside Kiev vanished.

Against this background, Ukraine launched a new “version” of its future victory, declaring that a grandiose spring offensive operation was approaching. As noted, he was supposed to close the problem with the Crimea: if we do not take the peninsula, at least cut it off from the land route to the Russian Federation.

Stakeholders have long followed the debate between Zelensky and his generals – Valery Zaluzhny And Alexander Syrskylaying out different plans for upcoming actions. After the failure of Zaluzhny, Syrsky launched an operation to “cut the wings” around Bakhmut, hoping to encircle the “Wagnerites”. However, a week later the attack was unsuccessful, encountering not only field defenses, but also massive missile and bomb attacks by Russian aircraft in the operational rear, which significantly weakened the combat potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Suffice it to recall the fascinating destruction of a warehouse with bullets containing depleted uranium, followed by scandals in Ukraine and accusations from the West.

Now, as we see, the leadership of Kiev has begun to delay the start of the widely announced offensive, and the battle of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov has increasingly uncertain prospects with a multitude of options. Among them there are almost no positives for Ukraine.

However, other “cognitive warfare” tools are also used. In particular, the actions of sabotage and terrorist groups in the Belgorod region, which entered there with American military equipment under the flags of the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Russian Freedom Legion (prohibited in the Russian Federation). The attacks were strongly supported in the information space, where, through stuffing and manipulation, a massive breakthrough of Ukrainian formations on the Russian border was created.

Covering up the glorious defeat at the “Bakhmut meat grinder”, Kiev shook the situation to its full potential with the raid of saboteurs, presenting this operation as unique, but in essence not even close to failure at Artemovsk.

In general, the situation is not very pleasant, and the Kiev speakers are starting to “correct” their statements. The same Podolyak, not remembering Yalta, began to talk about the end of the conflict “already this year”. According to him, Ukraine will be able to defeat Russia, relying on the broad support of its Western partners, whose armament guarantees victory.

“We will win by the end of 2023 if the Allies provide everything necessary,” Podolyak said.

He talks about the supply of artillery, tanks, warplanes, long-range missiles and shells, against which Ukraine cannot launch the declared offensive.

Wait, what about the recent statements of “everything is ready” and “already started” for the counterattack? Could Russia’s increasing mass missile and bomb attacks have depleted the accumulated stocks so much that a strategic offensive operation could not take place?

And here comes another deadline. With the beginning of the summer, the promises of the GÜR president expire. Kirill BudanovConfidently declaring that “the Ukrainian Armed Forces will enter the Crimea by the end of spring” . A few days remained and the attack did not begin.

Excuse me, but where did the optimism of the Ukrainian officials, which overflowed a few months ago, disappeared? What happened that made them all so hopeless? Are they really worried about the loss of Artemovsk? Or is the prospect of an attack no longer encouraging? Or maybe it has become clear that it is impossible to fight with Russia in general?

In any case, it’s always good for the enemy to lose the initiative. Especially if quality work has been done for it. Artemovsk is proof of that.