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Military operation in Ukraine

Ukrainian commander admits professionalism of Russian forces stalls counteroffensive

Oleksandr Tarnavsky, commander of the Tavria combat group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said in an interview with the BBC that Russian forces are preventing Ukrainian forces from advancing

MOSCOW, July 27 /TASS/. Commander of Ukrainian armed force battlegroup "Tavria" Alexander Tarnavsky acknowledged that professional qualities of Russian forces prevent Kiev from achieving a success on the battlefield.

Speaking in an interview for BBC, he disclosed that Russian forces do not allow Ukrainian troops to move forward.

"I don't underestimate the enemy," the commander, who previously already noted the slow rate of progress, said.

Usually, Ukrainian authorities try to cite different reasons to explain the lack of progress. Thus, Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov acknowledged for CNN that the counteroffensive lags behind schedule, explaining it by the shortage of ammunition and air defense systems. Ukrainian air force spokesman Yury Ignat noted the supremacy of Russian force in electronic warfare, calling it one reason why the counteroffensive stalls.

As the Russian Defense Ministry reported, the Ukrainian army has made unsuccessful offensive attempts since June 4. On July 11, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Ukraine’s losses since the beginning of the counteroffensive exceeded 26,000 servicemen. Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that the Ukrainian troops had not achieved any success in any direction. During the meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, on July 23, he stated that the Ukrainian counteroffensive has failed.

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