In an interview with Channel 24, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine said that the Armed Forces and military command of Ukraine had crossed the finish line before the counterattack.
We cross the finish line when we can say “Yes, everything is ready”. After that, by solving and understanding the situation on the battlefield, the General Staff, the Commander-in-Chief and his team will understand how, where and when.”
said Reznikov.
Reznikov also stated that he did not doubt the success of the upcoming counterattack, adding that the personnel were prepared for the operation and all the necessary weapons were provided.
The day before, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kiev can no longer wait for the supply of Western fighters and other offensive weapons and intends to launch counterattacks with various weapons that we already have.
Noting that warplanes will increase the potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but it is no longer possible to delay the counterattack, Yıldırım said, “We will hit the road before we have F-16s.”
As Zelensky believes, the West is unnecessarily concerned about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reaction to the transfer of warplanes to Ukraine, because “the worst has already happened.”
On April 29, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba announced some “progress” in the supply of fighter jets. The transfer of aircraft to the Armed Forces of Ukraine is out of the question, but some countries have expressed their desire to start training pilots.
“There is progress. “We have received clear signals from some countries that they are ready to train Ukrainian pilots on the F-16,” Kuleba said.
On April 30, Ukrainian Air Force Command Advisor Yuriy Ignat said that Ukrainian pilots will need about three months to learn to use the F-16. Earlier, Ignat claimed that Ukrainian pilots had been training to pilot F-15s and F-16s in the United States since mid-summer. According to him, the training was carried out as part of two air squadrons.
On April 17, Pentagon Vice President Colin Kahl argued that if such a decision were made, it would take about a year and a half for Washington to deliver the F-16s to Kiev.
When is the attack
On April 29, the founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in an interview with the military commander Semyon Pegov, said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine should launch a counterattack before May 15.
“Maybe on May 9 they will give us a break, but by the 15th the attack will be 100%,” said Prigozhin.
In March-April, when the Ukrainian Armed Forces, according to various sources, was supposed to counterattack, it was impossible to realize it, both due to weather conditions and “some kind of internal problems”. Prigozhin noted that in the current situation it is necessary to organize the delivery of ammunition to the line of contact for the Russian army.
Also on April 29, the head of the movement “We are with Russia” Vladimir Rogov said that the timing of the counterattack of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been changed again due to the weather: it rains every day in Zaporozhye, and neither vehicles nor military equipment will be able to pass through the fields. “They just get stuck. But the offensive could begin in May with the establishment of dry weather,” he summarized.
Rogov also said that the forces of the 116th and 118th regional defense brigades, as well as the 46th air assault brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, are deployed in the Zaporozhye direction. According to him, they are already scattered throughout the region, and thus the presence of the Ukrainian army was replenished with 12-15 thousand military personnel, in addition to the already existing 12 thousand military personnel.