NATO Chief Of Staff In Europe Predicts Fiasco To Putin's Offensive On Kharkiv

General Cavoli pointed out the key factors.

The Russian army, which invaded Kharkiv region for the second time since the beginning of the war, will not have enough forces and means to change radically the situation on this section of the front, General Christopher Cavoli, supreme commander of the United armed forces of NATO in Europe, is confident.

In his opinion, the Ukrainian troops will be able to hold their positions, especially since "a huge amount" of ammunition and short-range air defence systems, as well as a "significant amount" of armoured vehicles, are due to arrive soon.

Russian units "do not have the numbers needed for a strategic breakthrough," Cavoli said at a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels after a meeting of the alliance's military chiefs, Reuters reported.

Moreover, they do not have the skills and capabilities to do so, to operate on the scale necessary to turn a breakthrough into a strategic advantage. They do have the ability to achieve localised successes, and they have already demonstrated that. They have also suffered some localised defeats.

The AFU's ammunition supply situation should "seriously improve soon," added Admiral Rob Bauer, chairman of NATO's Military Committee.

Cavoli did not provide data on the number of Russian troops on this section of the front. George Barros, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), estimated that the Russian grouping in Belgorod region, from where the invasion began on the night of May 10, numbers 30,000, and together with troops in adjacent territories could be as high as 50,000.