The article says nothing about any dissatisfaction with the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces command and ignoring the Pentagon’s recommendations. It says that Ukraine is using its strategy to secure those parts of the front where Russia can advance.
A number of Kremlin media spread the news that the Pentagon allegedly expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and in particular Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, “do not follow the orders of the West” and are fighting “arbitrarily.”
“According to the newspaper (NYT – editor’s note), the commander of the Ukrainian Army ignores direct orders from American generals,” one of the websites states.
Propaganda refers to an article in The New York Times that allegedly claims this. StopFake examined the original NYT article, “Ukrainian Commander Urges More Defenses in the Northeast,” and found that the Kremlin had once again made up the necessary points for the article, which it used to reinforce disinformation narratives. In the original, there is no mention of any “dissatisfaction” with Colonel-General Syrskyi’s methods of warfare.
In fact, the article mentions that General Oleksander Syrskyi departed from the Pentagon’s advice and called for a stronger defense in the northeastern region, where Russian troops have become more active.
“Under the Pentagon’s reasoning, Ukraine should have massed an outsize number of forces on one portion of the front line to attempt a breakthrough. Ukrainian commanders have instead tried to divide troops and firepower in a manner that they consider to be as fair and as equal as possible between the east and south,” the NYT writes.
The article says that the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy also responded to this criticism from the United States (referring to other articles that reflect on the Ukrainian army’s counteroffensive – ed. note), noting that Ukraine is not going to surrender Kharkiv, Donbas, Pavlohrad, or Dnipro, and “let all the analysts in the world not even count on it.” Syrskyi also emphasized that although the West’s attention is now focused on the southern direction, we should not forget about other parts of the front, recalling the enemy’s regrouping and potential reinforcements from Russia.
Thus, the article does not imply any dissatisfaction with or disregard for the Pentagon’s recommendations, but rather emphasizes that Ukraine is using its own strategy to secure the areas where Russia can advance.
Earlier, StopFake refuted the fake that NATO had allegedly admitted that “the much-hyped counteroffensive is not working.”
