Ukrainian officials are the first to admit that the country's armed forces face a "tough duel" with Russia in the weeks and months ahead. Nonetheless, there is mounting pressure on Ukraine to produce solid results — and analysts told CNBC that expectations could be far too high. Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker, told CNBC Tuesday that it was too early in the counteroffensive to make a judgment call. Urging patience, Ukraine defense advisor Yuriy Sak told CNBC: "We understand that everybody — and us more than anybody else — wants [the counteroffensive] to be progressing faster." Anders Fogh Rasmussen, chair of Rasmussen Global and former Secretary General of NATO, told CNBC Tuesday that "we are much too slow."

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Persons: Anatolii Stepanov, Yuriy Sak, Hanna Maliar, Maliar, Oleksiy, —, Sak, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Putin, Fogh Rasmussen, Oleksiy Goncharenko, Oscar Del Pozo Organizations: AFP, Getty, CNBC, Ukrainian, Google, Defense, NATO, Rasmussen Global, Afp Locations: Blagodatne, Donetsk, Ukraine, Russia, Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Kherson, Ukrainian, Kyiv, Spanish, San Gregorio, Zaragoza