Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed that the Ukrainian armed forces are preparing for a counter-offensive. About this he said in an interview with the Finnish edition of Yle.
According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine will be able to “repel the Russian forces, as well as bring the Crimean peninsula back under control”. The president did not specify the timing or other details of the counteroffensive. It is believed to be slated for late spring or early summer, Yle notes.
Zelenskyy noted that the success of the Ukrainian army largely depends on the West continuing to supply it with weapons.
“We want to save as many lives as possible, so the number of weapons matters,” he said.
The Ukrainian president also admitted that hostilities could continue for “decades”. “It is cheaper for other countries to support Ukraine now than to increase the risks of World War III,” Zelenskyy said.
Press Service of the President of Ukraine
What is known about the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces
On the eve of April 28, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that the country’s armed forces (APU) “in a global sense” were ready for a counteroffensive and were awaiting orders from the command. According to him, the timing of the counterattack also depends on the weather and “God’s will”. Reznikov added that Ukraine has not yet received all the military equipment promised by Western partners. In particular, the army will not have time to receive the American Abrams tanks before the counter-offensive.
The head of the Joint Press Coordination Center of the “South” Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Natalya Gumenyuk, in turn, said that the counteroffensive was already “taking small, quiet, but confident steps.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba urged not to view the counteroffensive as a decisive battle. “The decisive battle is the one that will lead to the complete liberation of Ukrainian territories,” he said at a press briefing on April 28 (quoted by Interfax-Ukraine).
According to Kuleba, there may be several counterattacks.
“If it takes a counter-offensive, there will be one; if it takes two or more, it will be so,” said the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
Some alleged details of the Ukrainian offensive became known through so-called secret US Department of Defense documents, which were made public after a large-scale leak and were released to US media in early April.
It appears from these documents that Ukraine is preparing a counterattack in several directions at once and will involve a total of 12 brigades. Nine of them were trained with the help of the USA. As the Wall Street Journal wrote, their equipment includes more than 250 tanks, about 380 tracked vehicles, 480 wheeled vehicles, as well as artillery and all-terrain combat vehicles.
Newsweek wrote, citing “Pentagon documents,” that the UAF counterattack could begin on April 30.
When and in what areas to expect the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine – read here
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