“We will consume the Russians”
Mykhailo Podolyak, Senior Advisor to the President of Ukraine, gave an interview to the Italian newspaper La Stampa. declaration“Bakhmut is a strategic achievement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine” and “in two months (it will begin -” socialbites.ca “) – a counterattack.”
He also promised that Ukrainian forces would take “next steps to defeat the enemy” – “exhaust the Russians” and then “concentrate elsewhere”. At the same time, Podolyak insists that Kiev “needs long-range missiles.”
According to him, Ukraine needs heavy artillery shells of 155 mm caliber.
“We need to increase the supply of 155 mm caliber heavy artillery shells. <…> We are in no rush, we are restructuring in the next two months,” he said.
Prepare a counterattack
March 2 New York Times knowledgeablethat top US generals are hosting the Ukrainian military for a series of “tabletop” exercises that will “help Kiev determine the next phase of the war to liberate the region.”
According to the publication, military officials at the US Army headquarters in Europe and Africa “rehearsed a number of attack options”, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly mentioned.
Thursday’s meetings, attended by President Biden’s top generals in charge of America’s aid efforts to Ukraine, were designed to devise a strategy that outlined the risks and payoffs of the various actions Ukraine could take against Russia’s positions in the coming months, officials said. .
The authors of the material noted that after the exercises, the Ukrainian authorities will decide which path to follow, and that the American military officials will “be the spokesperson”.
According to the editors, after one day of the exercises, General J. Christopher Cavoli, NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, praised the “extraordinary” adaptability of the Ukrainian military and promised to “adapt” to them. better.
“Military exercises are being held as Ukraine emerges from a winter that is expected to bring a stagnation to the conflict. However, both sides continue to suffer heavy losses as a result of Russia’s advance on the eastern town of Bakhmut.
They recalled that the same week, Zelensky said that he had spoken to senior officers of the armed forces about the lack of training, weapons and ammunition.
Joining the exercise, Chief of Staff General Mark A. Milley spoke of a huge table filled with maps, badges and other military paraphernalia representing “potential wars”.
“Ukrainians move objects on these maps to determine what their best course of action is, and identify the advantages and disadvantages of the risks associated with it,” he said, but refuses to detail exactly what options were considered during these discussions.
But other top US officials, military analysts and Ukrainian officials themselves have suggested that Kiev may try to act against Russian defensive lines in the northeast or east of the country, including Donetsk and Lugansk.
According to broadcast sources, Ukraine “could launch an offensive in the south by targeting the so-called land bridge connecting the Russian mainland with Crimea.” Journalists recalled that in January, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III told a Washington Post columnist that “a realistic goal for this year” for Ukrainians would be to close the “land bridge”.
According to the editors, since the beginning of January, the US military has trained more than 1,000 Ukrainians, bringing the total number trained since February 2022 to over 4,000.
“If they turn their backs on us, they will get it in full”
On the eve of the deputy governor of Zaporozhye, Yevgeny Balitsky said on the broadcast of the Rossiya 24 TV channel that a Ukrainian military group of 40,000 people was concentrated in the area of u200bu200bthe village of Prishib. Territory controlled by Kyiv.
“We see this scattered group, we understand that this power is going to get somewhere. “If we move forward, it is unlikely that it will be counterattacked,” he said.
According to him, the Russian army reports its readiness for a possible attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, therefore the region is “preparing for it”.
“At least we have a pretty strong pair of deep dividing lines,” the acting governor said.
Volodymyr Rogov, a member of the regional executive board and head of the “We stand with Russia” movement, told RIA Novosti on Friday that the offensive of the Ukrainian army in the Zaporozhye region could lead to the loss of Kiev.
“If the Washington district committee orders Zelensky to launch an offensive in the Zaporozhye region, it could be fatal for the entire Kiev regime and the Ukrainian army. If they turn their backs on us, they’ll get it in full. And that could be the end of the Zelensky regime,” he said.
He said on March 8 that Ukraine must deploy more than 40,000 troops to attack the Zaporozhye region. He also named a few other factors that would help.
“They need to pull a sufficient amount of military equipment, the third is to wait for the leaves of the trees in the forest belts to appear,” said Rogov.