Meanwhile, Russia’s advances on the frontlines and Vladimir Zelensky’s non-stop pleas for more military aid paint a different picture
The chief of NATO’s European Command, Christopher Cavoli, has described Ukraine’s losses on the frontlines as merely a sign it is “generating force” for a further offensive. In a speech at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado on Thursday, the bloc’s top general said Kiev’s overall military strategy is “great” in terms of balancing recruitment, training, and arms procurement.
According to Cavoli, in modern warfare, one “either wins fast and upfront” or is stuck “for a long slog full of unpredictable twists and turns,” which is the case in the Ukraine conflict.
“A lot of it’s going to come down to force generation capability, which side can generate force fastest and take advantage of that while they have a window of opportunity,” he stated, saying that this is what Kiev has been doing for the past few months.
“I think that they’ve got a great strategy. It is just a matter of prosecuting it,” he stated, stressing that force generation, or figuring out how best to use men, training, and weapons, is key to securing victory. He praised Kiev’s recent mobilization efforts and said that weapons deliveries from the West are also “proceeding well.”
Conversely, the Ukrainian government has repeatedly blamed insufficient deliveries of Western arms for the failures of its forces on the battlefield. On a trip to the UK, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky earlier this week openly lamented to the BBC that the West had still not delivered a single F-16 out of the dozens they pledged to supply. Earlier this month, he also said that Kiev has troops on standby who are unable to fight because they are waiting to be armed.
Reports from the frontline also contradict Cavoli’s assurances. Ukraine’s troops have faced a tough spring and are being pushed back in many spots along the front by Russian forces. The few gains made by Kiev during last year’s much-touted but ultimately failed ‘counteroffensive’ have already been largely reversed.
Even Kiev’s Western backers doubt its ability to win against Russia. According to a New York Times report earlier this month which citied US officials, many in the West believe it “all but impossible” for Ukraine to win back all the territories it has lost, because its forces are already “stretched too thin.”
Russia says that no amount of foreign aid can change the outcome of the conflict, and that Western interference only prolongs the hostilities. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated last month that he would order a ceasefire and start negotiations with Ukraine as soon as it pledges not to seek membership in NATO and withdraws its troops from territories claimed by Moscow.
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