A senior Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) official has described the war in Ukraine as a "stalemate" and said none of the weapons the US and NATO are providing will help Ukrainian forces "break through" in their counteroffensive.
"Certainly we are at a bit of a stalemate," DIA Chief of Staff John Kirchhofer said at a conference on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. "One of the things that the Russian leadership believes is that they can outlast the support of the West."
When realism steps back in:
— Richard (@ricwe123) July 15, 2023
"At a bit of a stalemate"
About NATO's heavy weapons, "None of these, unfortunately, are the holy grail that Ukraine is looking for that I think will allow them in the near-term to break through"
-John Kirchhofer, US Defense Intelligence Agency pic.twitter.com/3AGQ2Y5bCj
Kirchhofer listed some of the weapons NATO recently began providing, including US cluster bombs and British Storm Shadow missiles.
"None of these unfortunately, are the holy grail that Ukrainians looking for that will allow them to break through," he said.
Ukrainian forces have struggled to make headway since launching their counteroffensive at the beginning of June. US and European officials told The New York Times in a report published Saturday that 20% of all of Ukraine’s weaponry deployed to the battlefield was damaged or destroyed during the first two weeks of the counteroffensive.
The officials said that the rate of losses dropped to 10% in the ensuing weeks as Ukrainian forces were approaching Russian minefields more cautiously. The officials did not offer figures on how many Ukrainian lives have been expended in the assault as Kyiv is keeping a tight lid on the number of casualties.
Leading up to the counteroffensive, the Discord leaks and media reports revealed that the US did not expect Ukraine to regain any significant territory.
But the Biden administration pushed for the assault anyway as it is opposed to the idea of a ceasefire.
