LONDON, September 7. /TASS/. The Biden administration thinks that Ukraine’s counteroffensive will stop in about 6-7 weeks, the Economist said citing its source.
According to the article, "there are private disagreements over how much progress can be made in that time." One viewpoint is that "Ukraine’s army, having thrown in most of its reserves prior to breaking the second line [of Russia’s defenses - TASS], and taking heavy casualties attempting to breach it, is unlikely to get far." "If you look at the battlefield in five years’ time, it could look broadly similar," the article quoted a senior American intelligence official as saying.
That said, the Economist is also citing the opinion of Trent Maul, director of analysis for America’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), who is not as pessimistic. According to his assessment, the Ukrainian army purportedly has a "realistic possibility," about 40-50%, "of breaking the remaining Russian lines by the end of the year." However, he cautions that limited ammunition and worsening weather will make this "very difficult," admitting that "American and Ukrainian officials failed to appreciate the depth of Russia’s defenses and how difficult it would be for Ukraine to ‘smash through’ them with armor."
The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier that the Ukrainian armed forces had been making unsuccessful attempts at a counteroffensive since June 4. According to the military agency, over three months, Ukraine has lost more than 66,000 troops and about 7,600 units of various armaments, failing to achieve any success at all in any area. On September 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had failed.