Professor Katz: Ukraine lowers offensive expectations to hide future failure

Professor Mark Katz of George Mason University’s Department of Politics and Government told Newsweek magazine that the Kyiv authorities are deliberately downplaying a possible counteroffensive in order to prepare their Western allies for potential failure.

Natalia Galibarenko, head of Ukraine’s Mission to NATO, said earlier that one counteroffensive cannot completely change the course of hostilities and urged Western countries not to put pressure on Kyiv.

“If she or another Ukrainian official said that this[offensive]would be decisive, then any other result would look like a failure,” Katz said.

According to him, the underestimation of the significance of the counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) is carried out in order not to create unreasonable expectations among Western countries and to ensure a positive reaction to any, even insignificant, achievements of Kyiv.

The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly announced a counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In April, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal announced that a counteroffensive would take place in the near future. According to the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, Moscow is closely monitoring any statements about the upcoming counteroffensive and takes them into account when planning its special operations.