'The Ukrainians might be able to beat back Russian forces that | Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

"The Ukrainians might be able to beat back Russian forces that are operating in villages and in the environs immediately outside of the big cities. [It's particularly useful for] the Ukrainians to be able to have intelligence scouting, it allows them to be able to identify where the Russian units are, [and then] use artillery and rockets against them. But as soon as you get into these densely urban populated areas, the pace of fighting and the rate of advance for either side decreases significantly, and the Ukrainians have not yet demonstrated a capability to be able to go into an enemy-controlled urban environment and repel those forces.

I don't want to say that the Ukrainians can’t do it, but that's simply just a capability that we've not yet observed on the battlefield."

We interviewed an expert from the Institute for the Study of War about Ukraine's prospects for mounting a counteroffensive in the Donbas:

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-donbas-counterattack-standish-barros/31849366.html