Zaluzhnyi explains why the 2023 counter-offensive failed and calls the Kursk operation «a failure for Ukraine»

Valerii Zaluzhnyi. Photo: Getty images

Former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and current Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom Valerii Zaluzhnyi has admitted that the Ukrainian counter-offensive in 2023 did not achieve its goals due to a lack of forces and means. He also criticised the results of the Kursk operation.

He wrote about this in an article for «Dzerkalo Tyzhnia».

Thus, according to Zaluzhnyi, the main reason for the failure was the lack of resources to break through the fortified positions of Russian troops.

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«To break through such an enemy front, it was necessary to have a decisive advantage in forces and means in the breakthrough area, as well as to have mobile reserves capable of quickly entering the formed breakthrough and entering the operational space before the enemy's reserves arrived for a counterattack or a new line of defence was organised. Unfortunately, for objective and subjective reasons, we could no longer create such an advantage before the offensive itself», he explained.

The former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine admitted that the failure of the counter-offensive in 2023 was a painful blow to him and stressed that the results were significantly affected by the excessive media coverage of the offensive.

«The deep rethinking of the results of the summer offensive was not only due to the reaction to the attempt to turn such a difficult element of war into a reality show, where first our plans were miraculously leaked to Russia, and then its course was commented on online by various soothsayers and prophets who later found themselves under sanctions or wanted. I still feel the failure of these plans painfully. However, the main thing is that it was imperative to learn the lessons and immediately change the strategy. A strategy that would allow us to survive in a completely new war», Valerii Zaluzhnyi said.

He separately assessed the Ukrainian operation in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation, which, in his opinion, also failed to bring the expected result:

«"An isolated tactical breakthrough on a narrow section of the front does not bring the necessary success to the attacking side... The defending forces managed to take advantage and eventually not only prevented the breakthrough from developing into an operational success, but also made a tactical advance themselves - also without operational success. I do not know the price of such actions, but it is obvious that it was too high»," said the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK.

Zaluzhnyi concluded that since the autumn of 2022, the fighting has become positional, and now both armies are actually in a «deadlock»:

«Today, analysing those days and studying my own materials, I say again and again that the armed forces of both Russia and Ukraine have actually reached a positional stalemate, similar to that of the First World War», he concluded.

Earlier, «The Guardian» reported that Yermak had offered Zaluzhnyi to join Zelenskyy's team, but he refused.