The Ukrainian counter-offensive was launched a few days ago, and “separate operations” are already being carried out within its framework. This was stated in an interview with the Italian television channel RAI Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the presidential office.
“The counter-offensive has been going on for several days, (these hostilities) extend for 1.5 thousand km along the border, but separate operations have already started,” he said (quote according to TASS).
Podolyak noted that Ukraine will only use weapons supplied by Western countries in territories it continues to consider its own. As for the F-16 fighters, then, according to him, they are needed to “block airspace.”
The Ukrainian armed forces have been preparing for several months a counter-offensive in the east of the country. On May 11, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv needed a little more time to prepare for it. On the same day, Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the Ukrainian president of trickery. According to Prigozhin, the counter-offensive is in full swing.
Counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: what military experts say about the situation at the front
On May 23, the head of the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate, Kirill Budanov, noted that the counteroffensive would begin in the near future.
On May 7, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing sources, wrote that the upcoming UAF counteroffensive could pave the way for negotiations between Kiev and Moscow by the end of the year. Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, later said that “no one will give up on national interests”. At the end of April, he called for the abandonment of attempts to organize Russian-Ukrainian negotiations as long as Moscow continued to fight.
Read the Latest Ukraine War News on The Eastern Herald.
