West's delays in providing weapons have limited Ukrainian Armed Forces' ability to launch counteroffensive - ISW

This was reported by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Russian troops had the initiative and led the offensive from February 24 to July 3, 2022, after which their attacks culminated. Ukraine seized the initiative and launched a large-scale counteroffensive in August, liberating the western part of the Kherson region, analysts say.

Since then, Ukraine can’t launch a new major counteroffensive. It may allow the conflict to escalate into a positional war, give the Russian forces the opportunity to regain the initiative and raise the bar for future Ukrainian counteroffensives.

Institute's experts claimed if the West had started working on Ukraine's full transition to Western weapons when the need became apparent in the summer of 2022, conditions could have been created that would have allowed Ukraine to continue counteroffensive operations after Kherson. It would deprive Russia of the opportunity to restore its forces.

ISW believes that the aggressor took advantage of the delays in supplying Ukraine with weapons and resumed its offensive on Bakhmut in late July, although it gained momentum only after the Wagnerites joined it.

"The continual delays in providing Western materiel when it became apparent that it is or will soon be needed have thus contributed to the protraction of the conflict. They are not the only reason for that protraction, to be sure, but the West must recognize the contributions these delays have made to hindering Ukraine’s ability to liberate more of its territory faster," experts added.

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