Casualties mount as Ukraines counteroffensive continues slow progress

Amna Nawaz:

For more on the state of the war, we get two views.

Michael Vickers was a senior Defense Department official under Presidents George W. Bush and Obama and served as the CIA's chief strategist during the Reagan administration. He is the author of "By All Means Available: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy." And Jennifer Cafarella is the chief of staff and national security fellow at the Institute for the Study of War. That's a think tank that tracks military developments.

Welcome to you both.

And, Mike, I want to begin with you and the counteroffensive that we were just reporting on. You heard President Zelenskyy there say they are succeeding. What's your assessment? Is he right?

Michael Vickers, Former U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence: Yes, I think they hold the strategic initiative, but the counteroffensive is going slower and is proving more difficult than I think many hoped.

And while it's important to note Ukraine hasn't committed its primary force yet, they haven't been able to make much progress against a dug-in enemy, numerically superior enemy, that's had a lot of time to prepare defenses.

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