LONDON, May 15. /TASS/. Ukraine will have to carry out a series of successful counteroffensive operations to achieve its goals, a process that could take several years, British General Richard Shirreff, NATO’s former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, said in an interview with Sky News on Monday.
"Had Britain and other Western European countries and America given Ukraine the tools to do the job a year ago, we probably wouldn't be here now. And the result, of course, of that is that the Ukrainian counteroffensive - when it comes - will take a great deal of effort to achieve success. And I suspect probably it won’t achieve the success it needs to in the first offensive, and we’re probably going to need to see a succession of major attacks over the months and indeed, years to come," he pointed out.
Shirreff, who served as NATO’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander in Europe from 2011-2014, also said that the West needed to brace for a series of counteroffensives, each of which would require major logistical resources, military equipment supplies and training for Ukrainian troops.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office announced on Monday that London would provide Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and combat drones with operating ranges of over 200 kilometers in the coming months. In addition, the office noted that the UK is planning to start training Ukrainian military pilots in the summer.