Ukraine makes ‘notable progress’ in counterattack as White House warns Kyiv critics

WASHINGTON – Ukrainian forces have made “notable progress” against Russia in the southern Zaporizhia region in recent days, the Biden administration said Friday — while warning critics of Kyiv’s counteroffensive to quit playing “armchair quarterback.”

“We’ve all seen the criticism by anonymous officials out there, which frankly is not helpful to the overarching effort, which is to make sure that Ukraine can succeed – and they are and they have,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on a conference call.

“We have noted over the last 72 hours or so some notable progress by Ukrainian armed forces on that southern line of advance coming out of the Zaporizhzhia area,” he added.

“And they have achieved some success against that second line of Russian defenses.”

“Now where they go from here and how they exploit that success, I’ll leave it to them to discuss, but we have seen some notable progress,” Kirby repeated.

The Russians have held the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia – home to the largest nuclear power plant in Europe – since the early days of the war, though combat has continued in the area throughout the 18-month-old conflict.

In recent weeks, Washington’s discontent with the pace and strategy behind Ukraine’s two-and-a-half month old counterattack has broken into the open, with multiple media outlets quoting unidentified defense officials pessimistic that Kyiv’s forces can break through the Russian lines.

Some Western military experts told The Post this week that they had encouraged Ukraine to focus its forces on specific areas – but Kyiv instead has directed its troops to disperse throughout the eastern theater, limiting units’ effectiveness.

Repeating the Biden administration’s line Friday, Kirby said the war is Ukraine’s to fight, and the recent news from the battlefield should inspire critics to have more confidence in their abilities and strategies.

“Any objective observer of this counteroffensive, you can’t deny that they have made progress now,” Kirby said Friday. “It has been slow in some areas – slower than [Ukrainians] themselves have said they’d like to go – but they have been fighting every single day bravely and courageously and we have been trying to get them what they need.”

“Piping in from the sidelines and criticizing a partner and a friend as they’re trying to advance forward in bloody, ugly, violent conditions is not helpful to the overall effort,” he added.

“This is not about them answering our criticism – it is about us answering their needs to be more successful on the battlefield.”

Despite the progress in Zaporizhzhia, Kirby acknowledged that the Ukrainians have “still got some tough fighting ahead of them” as they attempt to push the battle lines further south toward Crimea.

“They know that better than anybody,” he said.

“What we’re focused on is making sure that they’re prepared to keep that progress going that they’ve got the tools and techniques, they’ve got the training, they’ve got the capabilities to continue that progress again at a pace they decide is appropriate.”

Kirby also cautioned that Ukraine’s recent gains may cause Russia to fight back, but so far the US has not observed any attempts “to push back some of that progress.”

“We’re not seeing anything significant … that leads us to believe that the Ukrainians don’t still have the capacity and the opportunity to continue making some progress,” he said.

Still, the NSC rep said, Moscow remains in the fight, “rain[ing] down” ballistic and cruise missiles on Ukrainian cities, as well as launching attacks with drones sourced from Iran.