Ukraine’s battle against the Kremlin largely boils down to an information war, duping the U.S. government and Western press into believing they’re making progress against the Russian Federation. Since the war started Feb. 24, 2022, Ukraine officials, taking billions in U.S. and NATO aid, never admit that they lost some 25% of Ukraine prime sovereign territory to Russia. So, by the time Ukraine talked about their counteroffensive, the Russian Federation controlled the entire Black Sea coast and Ukraine’s strategic ports. Why didn’t the Biden administration and U.S. press admit that Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky had surrendered much of Ukraine’s prime sovereign territory? All reported is how brave Ukrainian soldiers saved Kiev from a Russian takeover. Now all the West hears is how much progress Kiev has made against Russian occupiers.
Zelensky’s government doesn’t fear Russia, they fear a loss of funding from the U.S. and NATO because of a lack of progress, no matter how many advanced weapons Kiev getss from the U.S. and NATO. Deputy Defense Ministr Hanna Malier said Kiev was making progress in the Zaporizhzhia region, getting Washington to agree on the progress. Growing numbers of at least Republicans in Congress have begun to question the progress of the war, with Kiev asking for more cash but showing very little to show for it. “There is an offensive in several directions and in certain areas. And in some places, in certain areas, this is first line was broken through, in some areas it was not broken through, the situation is different there,” Maliar said, making no sense. Ukraine talks about breaking through Russia’s fist lines of defense, heavily fortified with barriers and land mines.
With all of Ukraine’s so-called progress against the Kremlin, it’s hard to tell whether Ukrainian troops retake areas once controlled by Russia but then left behind because it holds no strategic value to the Russian army. Yet Kiev is the first to claim it’s “broken through the first lines of defense,” showing Western benefactors that, in fact, progress has been made in the counteroffensive. Zelensky once promised that Ukraine would achieve its mission of driving Russian forces from Ukraine by the end of 2023. That’s been since revised to sometime in 2024. But any objective examination of Russian control of Ukrainian territory indicates that the war could go on for years, without Ukraine capturing back all its lost territory. Zelensky opted for war against the Kremlin, rather than settle the dispute through negotiation. President Joe Biden backed Zelensky’s war against the Kremlin.
For Western officials seeking some kind of progress report, it’s difficult to know how much Maliar and others give progress reports on what Western officials want to hear, not the reality on the battlefield. “Where we have already move to the next line . .. the enemy’s much more fortified there and, in addition to the mining, we also see concrete fortifications, for example, under the main commanding heights, and our armed force have to overcome a log of obstacles in order to move forward,” Malia said, admitting that progress has by stymied by the Russian military. Zelensky doesn’t admit Ukrainian losses or a lack of battlefield progress. Kiev wants the U.S. aid to pour in to fund the bankrupt Ukrainian government and the war effort. Zelensky’s latest push is for F-16 fighter jets, something he insists will turn the war toward Ukraine. So the latest excuse is that the F-16s are six months away.
Pentagon and National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby is the master of excuses for the Ukraine’s counteroffensive. Kirby always gives the silver lining to what any object military expert sees as minimal progress. “They [Ukraine] achieved some success against that second line of Russian defenses,” Kirby said, not specifying what the first line of defense ends and second line begins. Kirby is one of Biden’s main salesmen on the Ukraine proxy war, giving optimistic forecasts of Kiev’s progress to maintain Congressional support now with signs of eroding. ”That is not to say . . . that the aren’t mindful that they’ve still go some tough fighting ahead of them as they try to push further south,” Kirby said, noting that Russia could launch its own counteroffensive to stop Kiev’s forward progress. All the talk of Kiev’s progress is designed to keep the U.S. and NATO coalition in tact.
Complaints of slow progress are met in Kiev with calls for patience, claiming that the counteroffensive needs more artillery reinforcement because of how much the Ukrainian army burns through its munitions. Kirby warned yesterday of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s talks with North Korea to help resupply Russia’s own artillery munitions. Pentagon officials have admitted that U.S. stockpiles of artillery munitions have also remained thin, prompting the U.S. to replenish the Ukrainian army. Whatever progress the Pentagon admits in Ukraine, they also don’t admit how Russia in nearly 19 months of war has taken 25% of Ukraine’s strategic sovereign territory. Russia occupied Ukraine before the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion and no doubt occupy Ukraine long after the war ends. Zelensky tells Biden what he wants to hear that he’s going to expel Russia from all Ukrainian territory.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet an Operation Charisma.
