Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Tuesday that Ukraine was carefully preparing the new counter-offensive against Russian troops because the attack is “very important” and “must show success”.
“We are preparing very carefully because it is a very important operation and we understand that we must show success in this operation for our society, for our partners, for the whole world and for our enemy”said Shmyhal, quoted by the British channel sky newswhile visiting the UK.
For the Ukrainian prime minister, the counter-offensive will begin when “the right time” arrives and when “everything is absolutely ready” for the military and political leadership to make the decision.
According to the sky newsShmyhal visited a British military training ground on Salisbury Plain to observe British and New Zealand troops training Ukrainian recruits as part of a British-led aid program to turn thousands of Ukrainian civilians into soldiers.
“I am sure that the most important day for Ukraine will be the day of victory over this terrible Russian aggression – large-scale aggression – against Ukraine”said Shmyhal, who is in the UK where he attended King Charles III’s coronation on Saturday.
While the date of the counter-offensive remains unclear, fighting continues to center around the town of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
On the last day, the occupying forces bombed 375 times the positions of the Ukrainian defenders in the Bakhmut area, said Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, quoted by the agency Ukrinform, adding that 166 Russian servicemen died and 206 were injured, although these figures cannot be immediately confirmed by independent sources.
“In our operational zone, the enemy continues to set the capture of Bakhmut as its main objective”Cherevaty noted, also referring to the complaints of the leader of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, about lack of ammunition as an excuse for his failure in the attack on the city, which has lasted since August, with heavy casualties for both sides.
“All these statements are consistent with the main fact that he has taken on huge military commitments and cannot fulfill them because the armed forces are committing assassinations.” [combatentes do Grupo Wagner] en masse, and they have no source of labor (…). That’s why he’s looking for an excuse to avoid having to pay unfulfilled obligations and he’s been making this ‘white noise’ for a month now, regretting not receiving any ammunition even though they have more than enough.”the spokesman said, noting that the Russians used 34,000 grenades in the past day alone.
Cherevaty also added that the enemy violates all rules of war, in particular prohibited weapons and ammunition, and accused the Russian army of being composed of “ordinary criminals wearing uniforms of the so-called Wagner military unit” and pointed to the direction of Liman as the next target of Moscow’s troops.
“The Liman direction is next in enemy activity, having launched 444 attacks against our combat positions with various types of artillery”the spokesman said, noting that these attacks were again repelled, with Russian casualties high in men and equipment.
According to Cherevaty, the resistance of the armed forces has changed the composition of enemy groups during the last year of the war, arguing that the Russian backbone of professional combat brigades has been decimated, and that newly mobilized personnel are now fighting in Bakhmut, which will explain “the greater caution of the actions of the enemy and less activity”.
According to the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), senior Ukrainian officials have indicated that Kiev’s armed forces may be preparing counter-offensive operations in May or June.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Kiev’s armed forces are preparing for “new events” in May or June, and Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Volodymyr Havrylov went on to say that the timing and location of a Ukrainian counter-offensive are not important because Russian troops and leadership will panic anyway.
The press services of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, also quoted by ISW, stated that the Russian army continues to transfer military equipment, ammunition and supplies to Ukraine in preparation for a defensive operation against a major Ukrainian attack.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has so far led to the flight of more than 14.6 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.1 million to European countries – according to the latest data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
At least 18 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid and 9.3 million need food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russian security – was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and Russia political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented 8,791 civilian deaths and 14,815 wounded as confirmed since the start of the war, underlining that these numbers are well below the real ones.
Source: DN
