Kiev faces “looming catastrophe” within the battle with Moscow, based on investigative reporter Seymour Hersh
Ukraine’s foundering counteroffensive will mark a significant embarrassment for the White Home, Pulitzer-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has argued, suggesting President Joe Biden’s hardline help for Kiev might value him the subsequent election.
Writing in his newest Substack article on Thursday, Hersh outlined the progress of Ukraine’s offensive operations, claiming it might want a “miracle” to reverse Russian beneficial properties after Moscow took “complete management” of the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye areas.
Whereas a short-lived rise up by Russia’s Wagner Group final weekend supplied a quick distraction from “Ukraine’s failing counter-offensive,” Hersh went on to argue that Kiev is heading for “catastrophe.” He mentioned that might be politically damaging for Biden, who will search to promote Ukraine as a international coverage success as he campaigns for re-election in 2024.
“It could be prudent for Joe Biden to speak straight concerning the conflict, and its varied issues for America – and to elucidate why the estimated greater than $150 billion that his administration has put up to this point turned out to be a really unhealthy funding,” the journalist added.
Pointing to battlefield statistics and different info offered by US intelligence sources, Hersh claimed that Kiev had reclaimed solely 44 sq. miles of territory since launching its counteroffensive in early June, “a lot of it open land.” He mentioned on the present tempo, Kiev would take 117 years to fully repel Russian forces, attributing the determine to an unnamed official.
Ukraine’s Protection Minister Aleksey Reznikov has acknowledged the sluggish progress of the counteroffensive, however instructed the Monetary Occasions this week that the operations to date have been merely a “preview,” saying Kiev had but to deploy the majority of its Western-trained reserves.
Whereas Ukraine and its Western backers insist victory continues to be on the desk, Hersh mentioned Biden’s “total international coverage could also be in danger” ought to Kiev fail to ship outcomes on the battlefield. The journalist urged Democrats to take the “looming catastrophe” in Ukraine as a “wake-up name” as they enter the 2024 race, noting the president’s waning approval numbers.
The Russian Protection Ministry, in the meantime, mentioned that the repeated pushes by Kiev’s troops have did not breach the Russian defenses and acquire any vital floor. Furthermore, a number of German-made Leopard 2 heavy tanks and US-made Bradley fight automobiles have been both destroyed or deserted on the battlefield. Movies shared by Russian and Ukrainian sources this month confirmed Ukrainian troopers slowed down and retreating resulting from minefields and artillery hearth.
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