The offensive of the Ukrainian army may begin in the summer, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said in an interview with The Hill. According to him, friends and partners of Kyiv do not rush the Ukrainian authorities and realize that for such actions it is necessary to be ready “by 100 percent or even more.”
Shmygal added that the pressure to launch an offensive comes from within Ukrainian society. Commenting on the leak of secret US documents that theoretically could interfere with the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Shmyhal assured that “Ukraine will liberate its lands,” but recalled the needs of the military for Western weapons.
“In order to prepare for a counteroffensive, we need more artillery and ammunition. We need more medium or medium and long range missiles, we need tanks and we need fighter jets,” he said.
Earlier, representatives of the Ukrainian leadership repeatedly touched upon the topic of the counteroffensive. In particular, in early March, adviser to the head of the office of the Ukrainian president, Mikhail Podolyak, assumed that the Ukrainian forces would go on the offensive in two months. The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, did not rule out that hostilities could intensify in the spring.
In early April, Reuters reported that Ukraine had trained eight assault brigades totaling 40,000 men for a counter-offensive that should begin “in the coming weeks or months.”
Source: Rosbalt
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
