NATO Secretary General Says Ukrainian Troops Move Forward And Break Russian Defense Lines

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine. (Source: President.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - Ukraine is slowly making progress in the retaliatory attacks carried out since last June to retake Russian-occupied territory, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, although he also acknowledged there were barriers to Russia's defense and minefields.

"Ukraine are gradually gaining strength. They have been able to penetrate the defense lines of Russian troops, and they are moving forward," Stoltenberg said before a member of the European Parliament.

Since launching his attack, Kyiv has struggled to break through Russia's strong defensive line, facing growing criticism in Western media for focusing its power in the wrong place.

However, with Moscow's abundant military resources and dissent, both sides have measured recent success by controlling small villages or small plots of land.

Stoltenberg said the attack was expected to slow down.

"No one has ever said that this will be easy," he said.

"Almost in history we have seen more mines on the battlefield than we have seen in Ukraine today. So it's clear that this is going to be very difficult," he explained.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said in the past week, their troops had successfully crossed Russia's first line of defense, but are now facing further defensive lines in the region where Moscow had built forts and minefields.

"They are progressing. Maybe not as much as we expected, but they are progressing gradually," Stoltenberg said.

"Several hundred meters per day, meaning that when Ukraine took control of territory, Russia lost territory," he continued.

Praise Ukrainian troops for their achievements on the battlefield, he added: "The initial point was, the Russian army used to be the second-strongest in the world. And now the Russian army is the second-strongest in Ukraine. That's quite impressive for Ukraine."