Russian defenses turned out to be stronger than the West expected

British Chief of the Defense Staff Tony Radakin said, The Times reports.

“When you look at the beginning of the counter-offensive, there were moments when Ukraine wanted to secure a little more equipment, more ammunition, then a period of bad weather came and that affected [it]. Then you did some war games and assessments of Russia and then in fact some of these Russian defenses turned out to be stronger than expected,” Radakin said after a visit to Kiev yesterday.

Earlier, military analyst Michael Kofman from the Carnegie Endowment said that the West began to prepare for a protracted war, realizing that a quick breakthrough in the south did not work out.