According to NATO Admiral Rob Bauer, the Ukrainian military is pushing Russian troops back 200 to 300 meters each day in its counteroffensive. Ukrainians have paid a high price for this, with many dead and injured, he told the annual conference of the NATO military group in Oslo on Saturday. “The Russians are losing 200, 300 meters every day,” said the Dutchman.
The reason the attack did not advance quickly was the large number of Russian mines. There are miles of mines with five to six mines per square meter that hold the Ukrainians back. “They really need to step up.” He also contradicted the notion that Ukrainian progress was slow due to a lack of ammunition.
Ukraine has been fending off a Russian invasion for more than 18 months. A good three months ago, Kiev launched a counteroffensive and wanted to break through Russian defense lines, especially in the south of the country. Moscow currently controls about 100,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
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