Ukraine Has Already Retaken 50% of Russian-Occupied Territory, US Secretary of State Says
Counter-offensive underway against the invasion ordered by Vladimir Putin
Ukrainian forces have already reclaimed about half of the territory lost to Russia since Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly 18 months ago.
That's according to a new assessment by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Ukraine launched its major counter-offensive in June against the Russian invasion, following the brutal winter in that region.
Ukrainians have been fighting for their liberation after the Russian leader ordered the full-scale invasion in February of last year.
Led by President Biden, the United States has rallied NATO and a wider coalition of nations to support Ukraine's fight.
“In terms of what Russia sought to achieve, what Putin sought to achieve, they've already failed. They've already lost. The objective was to erase Ukraine from the map, to eliminate its independence, its sovereignty, to subsume it into Russia. That failed a long time ago,” Blinken said. “Now Ukraine is in a battle to get back more of the land that Russia seized from it. It's already taken back about 50 percent of what was initially seized. Now they're in a very hard fight to take back more.
“These are still relatively early days of the counteroffensive. It is tough. The Russians have put in place strong defenses. But I'm convinced that with the equipment and support they receive now from more than 50 countries, with the training that their forces have gotten — and many of the forces who've gotten that training have not yet been put fully into this fight — and maybe more than anything else, with the fact that unlike the Russians, the Ukrainians are fighting for their land, for their future, for their country, for their freedom, I think that is the decisive element and that's going to play out,” Blinken added. “But it will not play out over the next week or two. We're still looking, I think, at several months.”
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