The counteroffensive, for which the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been preparing for many months, is progressing at a slower pace than expected and is noticeably deviating from the plan. It is obvious that the Ukrainian army will achieve its intended goal and liberate the territories from the Russian invaders, but it is not worth expecting the war to end before the end of 2023.

This is the opinion of military and political experts of TIME magazine. They emphasized that the counteroffensive cannot be considered a failure, since some territories have been liberated and Russian forces have seriously degraded.

"The defense forces have been destroying about 25 Russian artillery systems a day for the past couple of months. They have also repeatedly hit the most important Russian supply lines, especially the Chongar bridge connecting mainland Ukraine with Crimea," the analytical piece emphasized.

At the same time, the authors of the Western media outlet pointed out that the soldiers of the Russian occupation army are well fortified, and their defenses have so far slowed or hindered Ukrainian attacks, which have often been carried out by relatively small formations. Larger formations are too vulnerable to Russian artillery and helicopters.

"This shows the Kremlin's successful adaptation to the combat situation, while making it difficult for it to achieve decisive successes," the article stated.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Western partners continue to supply it with modern weapons, however, as the authors rightly added, without excessive enthusiasm. Thus, the AFU is actually in a borderline state, using both combat equipment with foreign technology and Soviet weapons.

"For both sides, this war has become routine. Ukraine has now largely abandoned bold promises of swift and impressive victories. Instead, it is about the liberation of individual population centers, as well as disrupted enemy operations," TIME summarized.

Earlier OBOZREVATEL reported that Putin is preparing for an even more protracted war against Ukraine and expects that the Russian Federation will have an advantage in manpower. This is evidenced by the changes in the law on mobilization adopted in Russia.

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