MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/. Ukraine’s army will have enough forces for the counteroffensive only until late August, Andrey Mordvichev, commander of Russia’s Battlegroup Center, said on Sunday.

"Their forces for the counteroffensive will be enough only until the end of August. After that, there will be a short pause. They won’t be able to achieve anything in the wintertime. And it think it all will be over by the spring," he said in an interview with the Soloviov Live television channel.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier on Sunday that Ukraine’s counteroffensive is proceeding hard. On July 7, US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said that Ukrainian troops were advancing more slowly than the US hoped but it was still too early to talk about the outcome. CNN said in early July that the West’s support for Ukraine may weaken if the conflict protracted.

The Ukrainian army has been making futile attempts to stage an offensive since the beginning of June. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on July 11 that since June 4, the Ukrainian army had lost more than 26,000 troops and 3,000 pieces of weapons. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian forces are not seeing success in any area.