Michael Weiss and James Rushton report:

Ukraine might be a victim of its own success.

Last year, Kyiv launched a surprise operation to recapture territory in Kharkiv Oblast from Russian forces, liberating territory roughly the size of Denmark in the space of five days. That campaign, a closely guarded secret, was unforeseen by just about everyone — especially the Russians. But it set high expectations for Ukraine’s long anticipated spring counteroffensive.

That spring has finally arrived, and Ukraine has gone on the march in the southeastern regions of Zaporizhzia and Donetsk. But so far, Ukraine has been tight-lipped about its slow but measurable gains.

“Words are very unnecessary, they can only do harm,” Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s minister of defense tweeted on June 4, quoting Depeche Mode.

That same day, Ukraine liberated the village of Novodarivka, but waited eight days before publicly acknowledging the victory. As of Wednesday, the Ukrainian counteroffensive has liberated at least eight settlements, according to Deputy Defense Minister Hannah Malyar.

Yet instead of the lightning fast advances seen last October, the fighting has been far more methodical. In this respect, the spring offensive is likely to resemble the months-long slog for Kherson, another region in the south, which took upward of three months for Ukraine to partially liberate. [Continue reading…]