Landmines and other obstacles complicate Ukraine’s counterattack against Russian forces, so the Ukrainian troops are right to proceed cautiously, said the head of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer. “A counter-offensive is difficult… People should not think it’s a cakewalk. It will never be,” he told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Ukrainian troops are facing defensive obstacles up to 30 kilometers deep as they try to break through Russian lines, Bauer said, drawing on historical comparisons. If we go back to history, “We saw in Normandy during World War II that it took seven, eight, nine weeks for the Allies to break through the German defense lines. So it’s not surprising that it’s not happening that quickly,” he added.