MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. The summer campaign was a failure for the Ukrainian army, which has now lost its attack potential, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov has said.

"The failed counter-offensive has dealt [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky a heavy blow, because the Kiev regime overestimated the expectations not only of its own people, but also of its Western allies. The Ukrainian army is going on the defensive. This alarming sign indicates a complete loss of the offensive potential," he wrote on his Facebook page (banned in Russia, owned by Meta Corporation, recognized as extremist in Russia).

Azarov said that Zelensky's office demands that the General Staff "promptly show successes on the frontline for reporting them to the Western partners."

"There is not much to demonstrate, though. Ukraine has already used more than 50% of the Western weapons. During the counter-offensive the Ukrainian military lost at least one-fifth of the weapons provided by NATO countries only to achieve no notable successes," Azarov said.

At the same time, he pointed out, the West is beginning to realize that Ukraine had no plan. Kiev literally cheated its patrons. Accordingly, the partners will grow increasingly reluctant to provide financial assistance to Ukraine," he concluded.

Earlier, Zelensky recognized in an interview with the US TV network CBS that the Ukrainian army was in a difficult situation, and the pace of Kiev’s counteroffensive was insignificant.

As the Russian Defense Ministry said, the Ukrainian army had been making unsuccessful attempts to attack since June 4. On 12 September, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had lost 71,500 servicemen, 543 tanks and almost 18,000 armored vehicles of different classes during this period.