Ukraine Has Taken Back 50 Percent of Territory Seized by Russia, Says US – News18

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday asserted that Ukraine has retaken more than half of the territory Russia captured during its initial invasion launched in February last year.

“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 – to take back more,” Blinken said during an interview with CNN. “These are still relatively early days of the counteroffensive. It is tough,” he added.

The US State Secretary explained that the Russians have put in place strong defenses in the face of Ukraine’s counteroffensive. “…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.  But it will not play out over the next week or two; we’re still looking, I think, at several months,” he added.

Since the start of the conflict, the United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, including the recent controversial decision to supply cluster munitions. Despite concerns from some US allies, like the United Kingdom, about the risks posed to civilians by such weapons, US President Joe Biden emphasised the significance of supporting Ukraine, including providing them with munitions.

In spite of billions of dollars of assistance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday pinned blame for the country’s delay in mounting its counteroffensive on a lack of munitions supplies. “We did have plans to start it in spring. But we didn’t because frankly, we had not enough munitions and armaments and not enough brigades properly trained in these weapons,” Zelensky told CNN.

Responding to Zelensky’s accusations, the top US diplomat said that he understands Ukraine’s perspective. “If I were in the shoes of our Ukrainian friends and partners, I’d probably be saying exactly the same thing,” he said.

“There are 50 some odd countries in this coalition in support of Ukraine. (US Secretary of Defense) Lloyd Austin has been leading this process on the military side. And different countries do different things at different times,” Blinken said.