Gen. David Petraeus, Commander of US Central Command in 2008-10, Director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency in 2011-12, considers the Armed Forces of Ukraine sufficiently prepared for a successful counteroffensive.

He shared this opinion at the 15th annual Kyiv Security Forum, established by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s “Open Ukraine” Foundation.

“Now the war has entered its transitional stage. Russia’s winter offensive failed to achieve its goal when they wanted to capture the entire territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. They managed to gain only a part of Bakhmut. Now they are losing flanks there. And their defenses are quite weak,” the General noted.

He reminded the audience that the Russians earlier suffered military failures near Kyiv, Kharkiv and Kherson.

“The Russians achieved only very modest goals that they set for themselves this winter, whereas Ukrainian army is now forming additional brigades... Army units predominantly use western armory. And we all wished and took all efforts to ensure that Ukrainian Armed Forces have all the needed weaponry for their counteroffensive,” said Gen. David Petraeus.

He believes that Ukraine will succeed in its counteroffensive.

“The current state of the Russian army is self-explanatory. They have already been in the war for 14-15 months, they suffered huge losses, they had no opportunity to re-equip, therefore, it is impossible for them to demonstrate a coherent and disciplined military force,” he said.

Contrary to the above, Gen. David Petraeus added, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are equipped with modern weapons, are well disciplined and have effective command and control.

Noteworthy, the 15th annual Kyiv security forum “For Our and Your Freedom/ Fighting for NATO” will be held on May 25-26, 2023, with the participation of well-known international figures. In particular, at the Forum, the KSF Security Council will be established and a policy document will be adopted with recommendations for the NATO summit in Vilnius to be held this July.