Estonian Major General Vejko-Vello Palm believes that with the approach of autumn Ukraine has eight to ten weeks to organize a counteroffensive.
This is reported by the ERR portal.
"The Armed Forces of Ukraine do not conduct major offensive operations. The time window for major offensives is relatively short: eight to ten weeks. From mid-October, it will be very difficult to organize an offensive," said Palm.
He noted that the Russian army still failed to achieve significant success: they could not break through anywhere. "In many places, the Ukrainian information operation, together with the counterattacks, worked very well, and it seems to me that the Russian leadership panicked," he said.
According to Palm, the course of the war has shown that the mass offensive used by Russian troops is a very bad tactic.
"The Russian army has its own problems, they do not have the means to decisively change the situation, they have not achieved a decisive advantage anywhere. Ukraine resisted well with Western weapons and training. They attack well in the right places. Russian forces cannot keep pace and will suffer high combat losses," he said.
According to Palm, the biggest problem for Russian troops is the loss of specialists on the battlefield.
"The biggest problem is not even that they lose infantry soldiers every day — they donʼt count them — but they lose a lot of specialists: paratroopers, military special forces, pilots, helicopter pilots, gunners, signalmen. It is very difficult to make up for these losses," said the general.
Regarding the successful attacks of the Ukrainian army in Crimea, Palm said that this success, after all, cannot be called the beginning of the liberation of Crimea.
"Crimea is still controlled by Russia, but the Ukrainian military is doing a very good job. It is very difficult to imagine that Ukraine will be able to return Crimea by military means in the near future. Currently, none of the parties has such a weapon, such a tool, such a method, which would contribute to the beginning of a turning point," said Palm.