Changes

The '''2023 Ukraine summer counteroffensive''' began on June 4, 2023. By July 2023, Ukrainian casualties were mounting, and it became increasingly clear that the counteroffensive would fail to capture significant amounts of territory.  Western reporting grew more realistic, and began giving insights into conditions on the ground in [[Ukraine]], as well as what was in the minds of [[US]] officials.

The '''2023 Ukraine summer counteroffensive''' began on June 4, 2023. By July 2023, Ukrainian casualties were mounting, and it became increasingly clear that the counteroffensive would fail to capture significant amounts of territory.  Western reporting grew more realistic, and began giving insights into conditions on the ground in [[Ukraine]], as well as what was in the minds of [[US]] officials.

According to the ''Washington Post'',<ref>https://archive.ph/GmW5m#selection-1169.4-1169.55</ref> US and Ukrainian militaries had conducted war games and had anticipated that an advance would be accompanied by heavy losses.  But when the real-world fatalities mounted, the ''Post reported, “Ukraine chose to stem the losses on the battlefield”.

According to the ''Washington Post'',<ref>https://archive.ph/GmW5m#selection-1169.4-1169.55</ref> US and Ukrainian militaries had conducted war games and had anticipated that an advance would be accompanied by heavy losses.  But when the real-world fatalities mounted, the ''Post'' reported, “Ukraine chose to stem the losses on the battlefield”.

This caused a rift between the Ukrainians and their [[Western alliance|Western backers]], who were frustrated at Ukrainians’ desire to keep their people alive.  A mid-July 2023 ''[[New York Times]]'' article<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/14/us/politics/ukraine-war-cluster-munitions.html</ref> reported that US officials were privately frustrated that Ukraine had become too afraid of dying to fight effectively.  The officials worried that Ukrainian commanders “feared casualties among their ranks”, and had “reverted to old habits” rather than “pressing harder”.  A later ''Times'' article<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/18/us/politics/ukraine-russia-war-casualties.html</ref> repeated [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]’s worries that Ukrainians were too “casualty-averse”.

This caused a rift between the Ukrainians and their [[Western alliance|Western backers]], who were frustrated at Ukrainians’ desire to keep their people alive.  A mid-July 2023 ''[[New York Times]]'' article<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/14/us/politics/ukraine-war-cluster-munitions.html</ref> reported that US officials were privately frustrated that Ukraine had become too afraid of dying to fight effectively.  The officials worried that Ukrainian commanders “feared casualties among their ranks”, and had “reverted to old habits” rather than “pressing harder”.  A later ''Times'' article<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/18/us/politics/ukraine-russia-war-casualties.html</ref> repeated [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]]’s worries that Ukrainians were too “casualty-averse”.