This summer, several articles aired in mainstream media outlets citing unnamed individuals from the Pentagon, and criticizing the speed and tactics of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. These critiques appear to at once reflect a poor understanding of the military goals and capabilities of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, and also bolster the growing anti-Ukraine, pro-isolationism cohort in America. The lack of humility is even more remarkable: the US has not fought a war against a protracted Russian offense like Ukraine’s, since General Patton and the Metz campaign, in 1944…in France. What’s more, no Western military would ever conduct a counteroffensive without air power or long-range artillery; but by slow-rolling and limiting aid, the Biden administration is expecting Ukraine to do just that. It is also worth noting that since the articles aired, Ukraine successfully punctured Russia’s first line of defense. Why are we not celebrating that, and ensuring a decisive win against our shared enemy, Putin?
General Jack Keane is a retired 4-star general, the chairman of the Institute for the Study of War and Fox News Senior Strategic Analyst. General Keane is a member of the Secretary of Defense Policy Board and has advised four Defense Secretaries and is a member of the 2018 and 2022 Congressional Commission on the National Defense Strategy.