Antony Radakin, Chief of the UK Defence Staff, has stated that the main push of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the course of counteroffensive operations is yet to come, rejecting accusations about the slow advance of the Ukrainian military.

As Financial Times reports, Radakin noted that repelling Russian aggression is "never a singular act," and Ukraine's strategy is to "starve, stretch [the defence] and strike."

According to him, these actions destroy Russian defence lines.

"The question is, how do you take a front line that is more than a thousand kilometres long and turn it into more of a problem for Russia than for Ukraine? That is why you are seeing multiple axes being probed and feints by Ukraine," the commander said.

He acknowledged that the Ukrainian counteroffensive was complicated by the high density of minefields, the lack of air cover, and the fact that Ukraine did not receive all the military equipment it wanted.

At the same time, Radakin emphasised that it is unfair to tie Ukraine to specific time frames and that "Russia is now so weak that it does not have the strength for [its own] counteroffensive."

"Russia has lost nearly half the combat effectiveness of its army. Last year it fired 10 million artillery shells but at best can produce 1 million shells a year. It has lost 2,500 tanks and at best can produce 200 [new] tanks a year," he added.

Recently, numerous Western media published materials citing anonymous officials, where they claimed that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had "started slowly."

Western officials have publicly acknowledged that Ukrainian counteroffensive operations are indeed progressing more slowly than previously predicted, but noted that this situation should not be surprising.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in an interview for the Washington Post last week, said that soldiers pay in blood for liberation of every metre of Ukrainian land, so he is annoyed by other people's comments that the counteroffensive is slower than expected.