The Ukrainian president confided in an interview with the BBC, evoking the ambitions of kyiv. He acknowledged that Ukraine was not yet ready to launch a new assault.
Another repulsed attack. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the long-awaited counter-offensive by Kiev troops was not yet scheduled in the short term, due to a lack of military means, in an interview given from Kiev to the BBC and released this Thursday.
“We have to wait. We still need a little more time,” he admitted.
In question? The lack of ammunition which makes Volodymyr Zelensky fear heavy losses. “With (what we have), we can move forward and achieve success. But we would lose a lot of men and I think that’s unacceptable,” he said.
A lack of ammunition
The former actor, who became a warlord, said that his troops had benefited from training sessions with NATO member countries. If he considers that his men are “ready”, he believes that everything is not yet aligned to launch the assault. He thus points to the lack of ammunition, in particular of armed vehicles which previously arrived “in batches”.
In full preparation for the counter-offensive, the New York Times reported that nine out of twelve Ukrainian brigades were trained by several NATO countries, including the United States and France.
Between training sessions, sabotage operations on Russian soil and evacuations of several localities located in the occupied region of Zaporijia, the Ukrainians have shown in recent weeks signs of preparations for a new offensive, supported by Western military shipments.
An expected counter-offensive
Ukraine has claimed for weeks to prepare a large-scale counter-offensive, more than a year after the start of the Russian invasion. The exact date of the start of this assault is the subject of much speculation, with some experts having once mentioned the period of the beginning of May.
A senior Ukrainian military official said on Wednesday that Kiev forces carried out “effective counterattacks” in Bakhmout, the epicenter of fighting in eastern Ukraine that forced Russia to retreat.
On the Russian side, Vladimir Poutne promised Tuesday, on the occasion of the commemorations of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, the “victory” in Ukraine.
