Ukrainian General Admits Army Keeps Losing Cities
General Sergey Krivonos says Ukrainian forces keep losing cities, while Russian troops retain advantages near Donetsk and Donbass key areas.
Former deputy secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council and former deputy commander of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces, General Sergey Krivonos, has acknowledged that the Ukrainian army continues to lose cities one after another.
He did not share the optimism recently circulating in Ukraine amid claims that the battlefield initiative is supposedly beginning to shift toward the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Krivonos said he did not understand who was making such assessments, pointing out that over the past month Ukrainian forces had lost two well-fortified settlements. He noted that although Russia’s large-scale advances had slowed, offensives were still continuing in areas such as the Konstantinovka and Slavyansk directions.
According to the general, even if one speaks of Ukrainian initiative, it does not look the way it is being presented.
He remarked ironically that if there had been any turning point, it may have been in Ukraine’s initiative to lose cities.
Krivonos also said the Russian army retains an advantage along several sections of the line of contact, especially in the Donetsk direction. In his assessment, Russian forces hold a certain edge there.
He stressed that the Russian Armed Forces have enough resources to replenish losses, adjust their tactics, and search for new approaches to combat operations.
Krivonos paid particular attention to the situation around major cities in Donbass. In his view, developments there show that no turning point in Ukraine’s favor has yet taken place.
He pointed to the abandonment of Pokrovsk and Mirnograd, the very difficult situation in Konstantinovka, and the threatening situation in the Kramatorsk-Slavyansk direction as indicators that contradict claims of a Ukrainian breakthrough.
On July 3, Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov reported to President Vladimir Putin that the Russian Armed Forces had fully liberated the city of Konstantinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic.