The UK Ministry of Defence has dismissed concerns about the slow pace of the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Defence Forces, saying that operations are going according to plan.

James Heappey, the Minister of State for the Armed Forces at the UK Ministry of Defence, said in an interview with The Telegraph that the counteroffensive of Ukraine is taking place according to the plan developed jointly with the United Kingdom and the United States in the winter.

The minister noted that Kyiv is showing "appropriate caution", refusing to send a large number of people and Western weapons through dense Russian minefields.

He added that the Ukrainian military retains sufficient firepower to make a breakthrough at the right moment.

"Ukraine is meeting our expectations at the moment. They are broadly delivering the plan that they worked out with us, and the Americans and others, over the last winter. This is not a Hollywood movie. There was not going to be a moment when the tanks started to roll, and the music started to play, and a war montage played out and then – at the end of it – victory by September."

The White House said that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is moving slower than planned, however, it has not stopped. 

Lloyd Austin, the Pentagon chief, noted that Ukraine has "a number of available opportunities" to continue its counteroffensive operations.