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Written by Lucas Leiroz, journalist, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant
Apparently, the Ukrainian armed forces were not aware of the defense capabilities of the Russian Federation, having underestimated the enemy during the counteroffensive. According to an article recently published by CNN, Ukrainian soldiers did not expect their opponents to be so efficient on the battlefield, which is supposed to explain why Kiev’s counteroffensive was so overrated – and is now being so criticized for its irrelevant results.
The article was written by on the ground reporters, war correspondents who interviewed Ukrainian troops to find out their opinion on what is happening in the frontlines. In the text, the interviewees unexpectedly “admitted” to have underestimated the Russian opponents, virtually assuming responsibility for the failure of the counterattack.
“It won’t be as easy as in [Russia’s tactical retreat from] Kharkiv. Here the enemy was ready, unfortunately. Everybody chatted for months that we would move here (…) We expected less resistance. They are holding. They have leadership. It is not often you say that about the enemy”, a tank unit commander named “Lotos” told CNN’s journalists. Also, “Vlad”, “a medic with the 15th National Guard”, stated: “You shouldn’t honor the enemy (…) But don’t underestimate him”.
The article, however, also shows some optimism about the future of the counteroffensive. It is said that the Ukrainians already learned “not to underestimate their enemy” and now they can do something really efficient, despite the difficulties. Interviewees claim that there is a kind of “thirst for revenge” that motivates them to keep fighting, which is why “CNN saw a palpable improvement in morale”.
Julia, another military medic interviewed by CNN, states that her colleagues are optimistic about the future of the offensive, since “revenge” and “hatred” would be motivating them. According to her, now there is a different optimism, possibly more realistic, knowing the enemy’s capacity, but still very strong, since the Ukrainians are enthusiastic about the possibility of attacking, as they spent more than 18 months just defending themselves. She says, for example, that the wounded soldiers she takes care of are eager to return to the front and resume their duties as their “thirst for revenge is very strong”.
“We are still optimistic but not as we used to be. Assaulting is emotionally easier. It was very hard standing in defense for 18 months (…) They (wounded Ukrainian troops) know it’s not going to be the same – they won’t be in the assault squad. But they want to come back. Because thirst for revenge is very strong. Hatred is very strong”, she said.
It is curious to read this type of information in the Western media when, on the other side, prisoners of war captured by the Russians claim that they learned about the existence of a “counteroffensive” through TikTok, since their officers had not told them anything on the battlefield. There is clearly an inconsistency between the data. Soldiers who were not aware of the counteroffensive cannot have overestimated the attack or underestimated the enemy. They did not even know what they were doing to have any critical assessment of the topic.
CNN’s interviewees speak as if they were to blame for military failure, when in fact those responsible for calculating the chances of victory are not military personnel on the frontlines, but intelligence officers who have access to sensitive data about the enemy. What seems most likely is that the media is manipulating the reports made by the sources saying that there were errors in calculating the possible results of the counteroffensive, blaming the Ukrainians and trying to clean up their own image.
Along with Ukrainian state officials, the Western media were primarily responsible for spreading the narrative that a large-scale attack was being planned by Kiev. Western journalists overestimated this alleged attack more than any Ukrainian military and now they seem to be trying to save their own credibility by bringing new “explanations” about what supposedly prevented the move from succeeding.
Furthermore, it is hard to believe that there really is so much motivation and high morale among the Ukrainian troops after so many recent defeats. What has been seen in recent months is a series of pessimistic statements by the Ukrainian military, with fewer and fewer people believing in any possibility of victory. In fact, the tendency is that territorial losses and battlefield defeats generate deterioration of credibility, moral discouragement and capitulation, not “thirst for revenge”.
In this sense, it seems more likely that the Western media itself is initiating a new propaganda campaign, focused on asserting that there will be a new wave of counterattacks in the near future, which is supposed not to repeat the errors of the previous one. An indication of this is the fact that in the article CNN journalists also made some criticisms of the NATO’s weapons sent to Ukraine, stating that they are “donated” ones, “not always kept at NATO service standards”. This appears to be a psychological move to convince public opinion that what has been sent to Kiev so far is still “not enough” for the counteroffensive to succeed, and there needs to be more efficient, lethal weapons in the military aid packages.
In the end, the Western media outlets seem to be doing once again what they have been doing throughout the entire conflict: encouraging war, demanding more weapons and trying to disguise their own analytical errors.
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“if any question why we died, tell them, because our fathers lied.” kipling
in the end ukraine will have to live next door to russia not next door to merca. question is…how will they live and what will ukraine look like when they get abandoned?
it’s like your cousin shows up on vacation and starts shit in the hood and then leaves!!!
latest plan is to drive them all into poland. there’s rumors that pitchforks are flying off the polish home depots’ shelves and they can’t restock because their chinese supplier is laughing too hard to write down the orders.
the longer the west keeps the sh!t show going, the more harm they do to themselves. the argument that a long war hurts russia more is misinformation . the reputation of nato and the us especially is permanently damaged and there’s not much they can do to repair it, except to spread more lies, which fewer people believe every day.
the longer the west keeps the shitshow going, the greater the reaction from ukraine’s population will finally be when they hang zelensky and his cronies up by their heels then storm the american embassy and set it on fire. ukrainians like setting buildings on fire with people in them. it’s one of their specialties.
every month more of slaughter will be a hundred more licks from a spiked club on zelensky’s little dancing feet.
nazis underestimated the russian army big time
ukros seem like the black knight of monty python search for st. graal. just see it on yt.
throw more cattle into the grinder,more nazi ukrainian meat to shred & mercenaries too! slavi exterminati
sad hoe the west is now pinning the blame on the ukrainians that got forcefully conscripted, while pushing for war all this time.
not only did they grab the guy on his way home with a loaf of bread to feed the kids but they ate his loaf too!
when all else fails then blame the soldiers who follow orders and do as they are told. talk about cowards in their so called leaders. ukraine soldiers need to revolt and execute the criminal thieves in kyev.
they’re still warming up. it’ll come, sooner than later i’ll wager.
meanwhile, the russians are just playing wack-a-hohol, while biden says ‘hey, man – they’re good to the last drop. so chill out.’
long overdue, big time
suicides among russian officers increases since russian invasion began. pelo contrario, putin subestimou a ucrânia, se deu mal. quando os ucranianos receberem os misseis de 360km e os f16, essa guerra acabar, os invasores bater em retirada da ucrânia.
you’re full or mierda up to your ojos, poncho. are you one of those colombiano pendejos for hire? i enjoyed watching the ukrainians treat you like dirt. dirt calling out dirt, that’s gotta hurt.
oh, sorry – he’s a brazilian or portuguese pendejo. ah schucks, not much difference. a pendejo is always a pendejo, it’s nature’s way.
ukras didnt get f16 you suka putana , and the missiles were intercepted by russian state of the art ad, sua piranha sem verhonha
what happen to my taliban masters
they paid off biden so he gave them the country back, with a little extra.
uma guerra longa machuca mais a rússia, e não há muito que os russos possam fazer, a nato e eua são os grandes vencedores, não perderam nem um soldado, a ajuda a ucrânia é uma pechincha para eua.
use the translator, you retarded sepoy.
how is it, that now russia is 5 largest economy, passing germany. 🤔 i guess it’s time for another sanctions package! bahahaha, bahahaha.
portugal’s economy will pass germany’s pretty soon.
every time i flush the toilet, i think of another german factory going down the hole.
and it’s their own fault. russia reliably was delivering cheap energy and raw materials (both of excellent quality) to run the german economy. now fritz has to buy overpriced american junk… a recipe which is not sustainable
have we won yet?
just wait ’til the zelminator puts on a fresh t-shirt and leads the troops into battle. he’s looking for a fresh t now. says the wife must’ve given them away, to help the homeless. just hang in there.
crimea is liberated for your info, and we are about to win.
nato troops are a joke with sub par training and sub par weapons they can”t fight their way out of a wet paper sack. but they are good at blaming stuff they do on the opponent and lying about how they are winning.
ha, ha, ha … ako by som čítal voľný preklad z diela, dobrý vojak švejk. za cisára pána a jeho rodinu. a nechal sa odviesť na vozíku pre chorých ku odvodu. tak presne mi pripadali reči tej ošetrovateľky.
the thirst for revenge is what’s been driving donbass militias to kick ukrainian ass for 9 long years, so i’m sure they’re busy writing messages on their shells ‘what goes around comes around, mofo hohols – enjoy.’
i saw a video the other day of a guy hiding out from mobilization with his girlfriend – saying they’d never catch him, no way they’ll take him. then he says ‘but there’s still only 15,000 ukrainian dead, right?’
ukie government tv channels still feed them that bullshit. wait ’til the truth finally hits them. i wouldn’t want to be twinkletoes when it does. course, he’ll be long gone with his cronies.
if you were germ stupo, i’d ask you: “is that you, scholzy?”
druzilla von der lyin’ is running around brussels in a panic, slapping her aids and demanding “when are those dam russkies going to run out of shells?”
so tell was some bakhmut after loosing kiev and kharkiv any kind of big win to russian military? no it wasn’t. pyrrhic victory with very heavy price for rather pathetic russian military. thousands of wagner criminals killed and wounded.
you are not bragging about strong rubble currency now. nor you are bragging how europe is dying and freezing without russian natural gas. putin’s great strategy pissed to his own pants.
wasnt on screwjew tv show, wasnt mentioned by igor konashenkov ,so being true kremlin lemmings our rashnik flathead faschist scum soldestka horde scum friends wont mention
it so sad that so few know anything about the real couses of the war. after 2014 begun genoside of ukrainianrussians by ukranian nazis. you don’t know this?
there is lots of video evidence. russia did what usa did in irak, syria, afganistan etc. rest is propaganda.
this situation arose because ukraine soldiers were fed with too much western media stuff. cnn, bbc, al-jazeera, the guardian etc forged lot of stories about ukrainian victories, weakness of russian forces, superiority of nato weapons, russian weapons are useless etc. the poor ignorant ukraine soldiers believed all those bullshit and set out to attack russians. the results are obvious.
250+k death flatheads
can’t believe a word that comes out of ukraine, just lies and propoganda
all true,just u dumb flathead mixed up countries. u meant shitland aka russland
it’s amazing how ukraine without any kind of military aircraft support can took areas from russian military. all rf hype of “electronic warfare” and hyperbolic missiles are now just pure joke.
relatively russia is as weak as it was in early 17th century. aging shrinking population, degenerated fragile leadership. economy based on oil and gas when world year after year is moving more to new energy solutions. russia – rusty old gas station.
russia has been forced to sell its oil to india with record low prices. even china is now taking distance to putin and putin himself is not much respected at all. china see him as potential looser.
russia is a shithole and everyone knows it.
endlösung der russenfrage is coming. most important conflict since cold war/ world war 2…we either stop the rashniks or live in century ruled by racist, totalitarian dictatorships like russia/ china
probably the same way like dacians underestimating roman legions.