WASHINGTON, September 5. /TASS/. Ukraine will not be able to reclaim any territories it has already lost, regardless of what weapons it has, Western or otherwise, amid the Russian army’s advances near Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk), says Anatol Lieven, visiting professor at King's College London and senior fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft think tank in Washington.

In his article for the Responsible Statecraft website, he states that Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk Region not only failed to achieve its main goals, but also hurt the country’s positions in other sections of the front, particularly in Donbass. Now, Russian forces are advancing steadily in the Krasnoarmeysk direction and, after the liberation of this city, they will control almost all of southern Donbass, the expert noted. In his opinion, as things stand, the Ukrainian forces have "no chance" of defeating the Russian Armed Forces or taking back lost territories militarily, including with Western-made weapons.

On August 31, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that the situation on four swathes of the frontline in the Kiev-controlled part of DPR and in the Kharkov Region was deteriorating - in the Krasnoarmeysk, Dzerzhinsk, Kramatorsk and Kupyansk directions. He announced that a decision was made to reinforce troops in the Krasnoarmeysk direction.

On September 3, Reuters reported that Kiev is close to reaching an agreement with the US on the handover of long-range JASSM cruise missiles. But Ukraine will not get these right away as the United States needs several months to address corresponding technical issues. It is expected that the handover of these air-based missiles will be included in an arms package which will be announced this fall, but no final decision has been made yet. Washington has not commented on this information yet.