The Ukrainian government has told its critics stating the the country is being slow about the counter-offensive against Russia, to “shut up”.
This is coming after Ukrainian soldiers spent three months on its counter offensive to reclaim a territory lost to Russia,
The statement from Kyiv is the sharpest signal of Kyiv’s frustration at leaks from Western government officials that say its forces are advancing too slowly against well fortified Russian defences.
After using hundreds of billions of dollars of Western military equipment, Ukraine has recaptured more than a dozen villages but has yet to penetrate Russia’s main defences.
In recent weeks, the New York Times, Washington Post and other news organisations quoted U.S. officials as suggesting the offensive was falling short of expectations blaming it for concentrating its forces in the wrong places.
Russia says the Ukrainian offensive has already failed but Ukrainian commanders say they are slowly degrading Russia’s defences and logistics to reduce losses when they finally attack at full strength.
Ukraine’s government now says its critics should keep quiet.
“Criticising the slow pace of (the) counteroffensive equals … spitting into the face of (the) Ukrainian soldier who sacrifices his life every day, moving forward and liberating one kilometre of Ukrainian soil after another,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba told reporters on Thursday, August 31
“I would recommend all critics to shut up, come to Ukraine and try to liberate one square centimetre by themselves,” he said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Spain.
Defending Ukraine’s counter-offensive, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Ukrainian commanders deserved the benefit of the doubt.
“Ukrainians have exceeded expectations again and again,” he said to CNN.
“We need to trust them. We advise, we help, we support. But… it is the Ukrainians that have to make those decisions.”
After months of fighting their way through heavy minefields, Ukraine’s forces have finally reached the main Russian defensive lines in recent days, south of the village of Robotyne which they captured last week in Western Zaporizhzhia region.
