The Ukrainian Armed Forces will go on the offensive this summer, said John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the US National Security Council.
“We want Ukraine, which is preparing to launch an offensive in the summer, to have everything it needs to defend itself,” an official told CNN.
Kirby added that Washington plans to continue sending defense systems to Ukraine “including in the near future” throughout the summer. According to him, the US military has been “in contact” with its Ukrainian counterparts from the very beginning. However, the official did not answer the question about the specific timing of the start of the attack.
US Senator Lindsey Graham claims to have personally received information about the military plans of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Volodymyr Zelensky and his associates.
“You’re going to see a pretty impressive show of strength from the Ukrainians in the coming days,” he told Politico.
According to Graham, attacks that “stretched the Russian defence” have allegedly already begun.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, in a telephone conversation with the Chairman of the Committee of Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, General Mark Milley, talked about plans for a counterattack on him. “It is important to work to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense with additional systems and F-16 warplanes. We agreed to continue the dialogue in the future,” Zaluzny reported on the negotiations (quote from Ukrainian Pravda).
“Creeping Attack”
DPR deputy head Yan Gagin said on Wednesday that the Ukrainian Armed Forces could already launch a “creeping counteroffensive”.
“The revival of the front from the opposite side, the intensification of the work of sabotage and reconnaissance groups, and the active work of artillery on the other hand are the prerequisites for this offensive,” said Gagin.
“It’s been a few days”
On May 25, Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Presidential office of Ukraine, announced that the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine had been going on for “several days”.
“This war has stretched 1.5 thousand kilometers along the border, but separate operations have already begun,” he said in the broadcast on the Rai 1 channel.
Podolyak emphasized that as part of the counterattack, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will use Western weapons only in areas they consider to be theirs.
Telegram columnist Ben Farmer believesThe F-16 warplanes promised to Ukraine by the West are unlikely to affect the course of the planned counterattack.
“Pilot training is estimated to take at least four months, but some estimates suggest more time. They will also need mechanics, ground support and logistics. Using Western mercenaries can save time, but this is a very serious undertaking,” Farmer said.
With idea Andrey Koshkin, Head of the Department of Political Science and Sociology at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, the counterattack was not canceled, it was postponed.
“The reasons are clear. Organizing a large-scale attack is a big and difficult task. We need to take equipment out of storage, fix something, send it to Ukraine. In parallel, recruit and train personnel, conduct combat coordination. This is a complex, multifactorial task. It is an event. No wonder the dates have been postponed. I think that in the end the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will begin no earlier than June 12-15, ”she predicts.