JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s counteroffensive hasn’t met expectations. Here’s why progress has been slow” – CNN
“… [S]outhern Ukraine [minefields] are so dense… [that] troops trying to liberate the area [reportedly] can only advance ‘tree by tree’ … Ukraine’s Western allies are getting nervous about the fact that … progress … is … measured in meters, rather than kilometers. … [T]he slower than expected pace of the counteroffensive means … support could become increasingly unsustainable if the conflict drags on. Many of the countries … supporting Ukraine’s war efforts are struggling with high inflation, rising interest rates and sluggish growth. Their leaders – some of whom are facing elections in the next year and a half – need to justify … resources [being] poured into Ukraine …. [The] Ukrainian military appears to be launching smaller attacks in different directions along the nearly 1,000-kilometer- [(621-mile-)]…front … trying to exhaust Russian reserves before launching a major push. …”