Sounds like to me that Ukraine was forced to do the counteroffensive, otherwise the West will cut them off. Which will lead to Russia winning the war.
Yeah,
I think there was pressure for this. But that’s just a guess.
Military operations are ALWAYS influenced by political considerations. I cannot think of an exception.
One can claim that is bad or wrong, “let the generals fight the war.” However, what happens on the battlefield influences politics and it is usually the politician that starts the war anyhow with the general merely using a nations military might to force ones will on another.
If one assumes that Clausewitz was right https://quotefancy.com/quote/1135854/Carl-von-Clausewitz-War-is-politics-by-other-means, then the interplay between politics and warfare is natural since war is itself no more than continuation, a political instrument, which simply uses military force rather than a debate forum, economic pressure, treaties, etc. It’s the last and final solution albeit there too you have varying degrees of how this war is executed, i.e. use of nukes, bio or chem weapons, unconventional warfare (once referred to as guerilla warfare), terrorism, proxy conflicts where third parties are used, engaging in limited warfare vs. unrestricted / total war...
Knowing what decisions belong to the field commanders and which belong to the political leadership is an art few politicians or generals fully understand, IMHO.