U.S. Department of State: Any incremental Russian gain will never be able to change tide of war

“Ukrainian forces, with their counteroffensive that started last year, have been extraordinarily effective at halting Russian advances, pushing Russian forces back, recapturing thousands of square miles of territory, and the fact that certain Russian elements are claiming they have made some incremental progress I think speaks to the lack of the Russian ability to make such claims in quite some time,” Ned Price, Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, said at a briefing on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

At the same time, he noted that the US assesses the situation in Donbas as the continuation of intense fighting.

“We expect that to continue,” Price added.

He supposes that both sides will continue to have incremental gains and losses. “But any incremental Russian gain, even one that comes at such heavy cost in terms of casualties and personnel and equipment, will never be able to change this tide of war,” the Spokesperson said.

“No tactical advance will be able to shift the strategic failure that President Putin and his forces have encountered from the earliest days of this war, and a strategic failure that has only intensified with the effective counteroffensive Ukraine has mounted,” Price summed up.