Western media wrote that in the first 72-96 hours of the attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, it was necessary to be on the coast of the Sea of Azov, having broken through the front, to begin the assault on Melitopol.
The first couple days of the attack were supposed to define the offensive. Western analysts focused on a lightning-fast offensive in order to achieve success, and now the operation is moving into positional battles, in fact, resembling the situation in Bakhmut where Ukraine got ground down through attrition.
Yesterday i seen a triumphant article on lemmy "Ukraine advances 1400m in Bakhmut" and map where the line is not even in Bakhmut. Sure sounded like 1915 but with copium clouds instead of chlorine.