- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Ukrainian counterattack was ready to “accelerate the pace”.
- Ukrainian officials said dense Russian minefields are slowing Ukraine’s counterattack.
- Analysts say delayed deliveries of Western weapons have given Russia more time to lay mines and traps.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were overcoming Russia’s dense minefields and the counterattack was about to be stepped up.
“We have already crossed several mine sites and are demining these areas, so the time is approaching for accelerated related actions,” Zelensky told the Aspen Security Forum via a video link. The Financial Times reported.
Zelensky said. CNN Earlier this month, Ukraine said it had been “slowed down” by Russia’s solid defenses and wanted to launch a counteroffensive “sooner” but felt it would have to wait until more Western weapons arrived.
Russian defenses such as mines, tripwires and booby traps have so far hampered Ukrainian progress, forcing soldiers to slowly search and dislodge routes using metal detectors and other equipment.
The dense minefields planted by the Russians also mean that Ukrainian forces will have to leave behind some of the most modern Western tanks and continue on foot.
A decorated former U.S. Army Special Forces engineer who cleared improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan and has since faced threats in Ukraine said the massive minefield Russia is laying is unlike anything he’s seen before.
Ukrainian soldiers said Russia was able to lay down these defenses using a long build-up to counterattack.
Before the Ukrainian operation began, satellite imagery showed Russia fortifying its 600-mile frontline with minefields, barricades, “dragon’s teeth” and anti-tank bunkers.
Landmines, along with unexploded ordnance and artillery shells, currently contaminate an area of Ukraine roughly the size of Florida, up to 30 percent of the country. It is the most mined country in the world, The Washington Post reported.
Analysts told insiders last month that the delay in delivering weapons to Ukraine would likely give Russia more time to prepare its defenses and hinder any Ukrainian counterattack outcome.
As part of the Ukrainian State Emergency Service’s demining team, clearing unexploded ordnance and other explosives in a field near the town of Brovary, northeast of Kiev, on April 21, 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Despite the mine threat, President Zelensky claimed that the Ukrainian counterattack was “trying to pick up the pace.”
However, it is not clear how much of the Ukrainian army has taken part in the counterattack so far. Several Ukrainian officials recently said that most of the Ukrainian army has not yet been deployed to the front.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on a forum that progress in the counterattack would only become apparent if Ukraine properly committed all of its forces to the battle.
“The moment they make that promise, we really know what the outcome of the counterattack will be,” he said, according to the Financial Times.
Ukraine launched a long-awaited counteroffensive in early June, but so far has had little success.
Meanwhile, Russia has occupied only a small portion of Ukrainian territory in recent months, taking less than 6.8 square miles in April.