It is up to Vladimir Putin who said last week they should be in situ by 7 or 8 July once storage facilities are in place. The fact of the matter is, it is not up to him. It is perhaps not worth reading too much into Lukashenko's declarations - whether the weapons are there already, or not, or are coming in drips and drabs, just how powerful they are and that he'd use them if he had to. "This manoeuvre defence approach is proving challenging for the Ukrainians and also costly to attacking forces, hence the advance at the moment has been slow," the Western officials said.Īnalysis by Diana Magnay, Moscow correspondent However, they added that Russian forces have "generally put up a good defence" and have been falling back between tactical lines. "Progress is slow because of the minefields and the obstacles which they're coming across, but this is as we'd expect.
These are full-scale movements of armour and heavy equipment into the Russian security zone and going forwards," they said.
They added that it is "still early to say" whether the counteroffensive is or isn't being successful. The Western officials said while it is "extremely early days" in the operation, they still believe "momentum is with the Ukrainians". It comes after Ukraine launched its much-anticipated counteroffensive, which has seen fierce fighting ensue along the frontline and some areas of southern Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have liberated at least four villages and 7km of land, with "intense fighting now ongoing in nearly all sectors of the front", Western officials have said.
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