Kiev\u2019s inability to penetrate Russian defensive lines should serve as a \u201cwake-up call\u201d in Washington, veteran journalist Seymour Hersh\u00a0warned\u00a0on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Citing battlefield statistics obtained from an unnamed source, Hersh\u00a0claimed<\/a>\u00a0that Ukrainian forces have only managed to capture two square miles of Russian-held land over the last ten days of fighting. In the two weeks beforehand, he continued, the Ukrainian military took only 44 square miles of territory, much of it open land located before the first of Russia\u2019s multiple defensive lines.<\/p>\n With Russia holding 40,000 square miles land that had previously been part of Ukraine, an \u201cinformed official\u201d told Hersh that \u201cit would take Zelensky\u2019s military 117 years\u201d to reimpose Kiev\u2019s rule over the territories.<\/p>\n The time has come for U.S. President Joe Biden to publicly acknowledge that \u201cthe estimated more than $150 billion that his administration has put up thus far turned out to be a very bad investment,\u201d the veteran journalist concluded, adding that the \u201clooming disaster in Ukraine \u2026 should be a wake-up call\u201d for U.S. lawmakers willing to hand Kiev billions of dollars \u201cin the hope of a miracle that will not arrive.\u201d<\/p>\n Ukraine launched its long-anticipated counteroffensive in early June, using German-made Leopard 2 tanks, U.S.-supplied Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, and other Western hardware to strike at Russian positions along the front line from Donetsk to Kherson.<\/p>\n The offensive cost Kiev dearly, with the Russian Security Council estimating Ukrainian losses at 13,000 troops as of last week. Attacking through minefields and without air support, according to Moscow, Ukrainian forces have failed to overcome the multi-layered network of trenches, obstacles, and armored emplacements constructed by Russia since last year.<\/p>\n Seymour Hersh<\/a> writes (PRIGOZHIN\u2019S FOLLY, The Russian \u2018revolt\u2019 that wasn\u2019t strengthens Putin\u2019s hand, June 29, 2023):<\/p>\n The Biden administration had a glorious few days last weekend. The ongoing disaster in Ukraine slipped from the headlines to be replaced by the \u201crevolt,\u201d as a\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0headline put it, of Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the mercenary Wagner Group.<\/p>\n The focus slipped from Ukraine\u2019s failing counter-offensive to Prigozhin\u2019s threat to Putin\u2019s control. As one headline in the\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0put it, \u201cRevolt Raises Searing Question: Could Putin Lose Power?<\/a>\u201d\u00a0Washington Post\u00a0<\/em>columnist David Ignatius posed this assessment: \u201cPutin looked into the abyss Saturday\u2014and blinked<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Secretary of State Antony Blinken\u2014the administration\u2019s go-to wartime flack, who\u00a0weeks ago<\/a>\u00a0spoke proudly of his commitment not to seek a ceasefire in Ukraine \u2014 appeared on CBS\u2019s\u00a0Face the Nation<\/a>\u00a0with his own version of reality: \u201cSixteen months ago, Russian forces were . . . thinking they would erase Ukraine from the map as an independent country,\u201d Blinken said. \u201cNow, over the weekend they have had to defend Moscow, Russia\u2019s capital, against mercenaries of Putin\u2019s own making. . . . It was a direct challenge to Putin\u2019s authority. . . . It shows real cracks.\u201d<\/p>\n Blinken, unchallenged by his interviewer, Margaret Brennan, as he knew he would not be \u2014 why else would he appear on the show? \u2014 went on to suggest that the defection of the crazed Wagner leader would be a boon for Ukraine\u2019s forces, whose slaughter by Russian troops was ongoing as he spoke. \u201cTo the extent that it presents a real distraction for Putin, and for Russian authorities, that they have to look at \u2014 sort of mind their rear as they are trying to deal with the counter offensive in Ukraine, I think that creates even greater openings for the Ukrainians to do well on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n The famous journalist writes:<\/p>\n We now know that the chronically unstable Prigozhin\u2019s revolt fizzled out within a day, as he fled to Belarus, with a no-prosecution guarantee, and his mercenary army was mingled into the Russian army. There was no march on Moscow, nor was there a significant threat to Putin\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n Pity the Washington columnists and national security correspondents who seem to rely heavily on official backgrounders with White House and State Department officials. Given the published results of such briefings, those officials seem unable to look at the reality of the past few weeks, or the total disaster that has befallen the Ukraine military\u2019s counter-offensive.<\/p>\n He writes:<\/p>\n There is an enormous gap between the way the professionals in the American intelligence community assess the situation and what the White House and the supine Washington press project to the public by uncritically reproducing the statements of Blinken and his hawkish cohorts.<\/p>\n
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