Ukraine is maximally preparing its troops for a counter-offensive and has several offensive options on the table to regain the territories occupied by Russia, the Ukrainian president said on Friday.
“We are preparing the boys. We are eagerly awaiting the delivery of the weapons promised by our partners (…). Preparations are in full swing,” Volodymyr Zelensky stated in his daily daily video message.
However, the date of the Ukrainian counter-offensive remains suspended, especially after the recent leak of classified information on social networks about the plans of Kiev and its Western allies.
The secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (SNBO), Oleksiy Danílov, nuanced in an interview with Ukrainian television that the counter-offensive would in any case not mean the final victory in the dispute.
“Everyone must understand that we are not just talking about a counter-offensive. All our territories must be liberated until the 1991 borders are restored. Until we do that (…) we cannot talk about the end of the war,” argued he. .
“There is fierce fighting, even street fighting” in Bakhmut
For his part, the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, noted today that the The Ukrainian counter-offensive is “increasingly behind schedule” claiming that “if it doesn’t start soon, the Ukrainian army will gradually start to lose its combat capability”.
“The war will come to a dead end and the areas currently controlled by Russia will remain under its power for many years to come,” predicted the leader of the Russian mercenary group.
Heavy fighting continues in Bakhmut, the center of fighting in eastern Ukraine, according to both sides.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that “Wagner strike groups are conducting intensive combat actions to capture neighborhoods in western Artiomovsk [nome russo para Bakhmut]”.
These efforts, according to the Russian command, have the support of the flanks of the airborne troops who “frustrate the enemy’s attempts to transfer supplies and reserves to the city”.
The US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) found that the geolocated images confirm that “Russian forces continued to make territorial advances in Bakhmut”, with “advance to the west” on the one hand and “marginal advance to the south and southwest”. on the other.
Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine spokesman Serhiy Cherevaty insisted that the situation in this city is “dynamic”, so it is difficult to determine clearly what percentage of Bakhmut’s territory is under Russian control.
“The truth is this: there is fierce fighting, even street fighting. The goal is to crush and bleed the enemy,” said Cherevaty, explaining that the Ukrainian resistance wanted to give Kiev time to prepare the army for the counteroffensive.
Meanwhile, the latest British military intelligence report released today warned that Russia has stepped up its siege of the city as regular Russian troops and the Wagner Group have improved their coordination.
Ukrainian defenders are still occupying the western barracks but have come under heavy Russian artillery fire, especially in recent hours, according to British intelligence.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar explained that Russian forces have concentrated in Bakhmut “their most professional units and are using a significant amount of artillery and aviation”.
“Every day the enemy carries out between 40 and 50 attacks and more than 500 bombings in Bakhmut,” he said, adding that the Russian army is “just razing the city to the ground”.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: DN
