"Almost five months after its start, prominent Ukrainian figures and Western analysts began giving negative assessments of the success of the counteroffensive;
statements by Ukrainian general Valerii Zaluzhnyi in early November 2023 that the war had arrived at a "stalemate" were seen by observers as an admission of its failure, and followed more definite assessments made by analysts, especially with regard to claimed operational successes from several weeks earlier.
That same month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated the war would be entering a "new phase", an admission of the counteroffensive's failure. Ukrainian forces did not reach the city of Tokmak, described as a "minimum goal" by Ukrainian general Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, and the probable initial objective of reaching the Sea of Azov to split the Russian forces in southern Ukraine remained unfulfilled.
By early December 2023, the counteroffensive was generally considered to be failed.
