The Ukrainian counter-offensive will be “impressive”. What does General Petraeus know, advance in war?

We have entered a crucial phase of the war between Russia and Ukraine. On the one hand, the Russian bombs in the regions of Belgorod and Kherson, which, in addition to devastating the areas of the attacks, are also injuring and killing unarmed civilians. On the other, Volodymyr Zelensky who, as he himself admitted in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, “is ready to launch a counter-offensive”. The Ukrainian president also indulged in considerations that were as honest as they were cruel. Moscow is stronger in the air than the defense it can offer, so “a huge number of soldiers will die” in the operation.

The third, as well as the first interested in the vicissitudes of the conflict, are always the Americans. And on the words of the leader of Kiev, the US general David Petraeus also spoke, revealing to BBC Radio4 that he recently met with Zelensky and other military personnel, and that he understood how much the counter-offensive conceived by the Ukrainian government is ” impressive”, because “they are determined to free their country”. The former CIA director who commanded the armed forces in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, explained the motivations behind his beliefs: “They are quite categorical about the fact that winning for them means liberating all their territory”.

However, Zelensky has doubts about the evolution of military action, although, in his words, “we firmly believe that we will succeed”. But, on the other hand, in war there are very few certainties other than death and destruction: “I don’t know how long it will take,” he confessed. “To be transparent, it could happen in a number of completely different ways. But we’re going to do it and we’re ready.” The interview with the American newspaper ended with a provocative rebuke to the allies: “We would have liked to have more weapons from the West for the next campaign, but we cannot wait months”, because we have to react immediately in order not to feed the hunger for conquest “of that animal , of that beast”. This is how Zelensky addresses Vladimir Putin. On these grounds, the war is still a long way from a truce.