Thousands of Russian landmines will reverse Ukaine's hopes of beating Putin

Thousands of square miles of Ukrainian territory have been mined. This terrible fact alone explains why the Ukrainian counter-offensive has largely been unsuccessful so far. Much has been made of the recapture of eight villages, but this really is small beer. The objective of the counter-offensive is to drive the Russian troops out of eastern and southern Ukraine. For good. But with the phenominal laying of mines everywhere and the huge defences built up over the last few months, there is absolutely no chance of this happening. If it was US troops attacking the Russians, B-52s would by now have carpet-bombed the Russian trenches and minefields and MRAP mine-clearing armoured vehicles and M1A1 Abrams tanks would have ploughed their way through the Russian defences. It would all have been over by now. But the Ukrainian military don't even have air superiority, so as their troops advance they are being bombed from above, and every step they take the mines are waiting. Casualties have already been appalling. I fear for the Ukrainians.