Plans for Ukraine’s 2023 summer counteroffensive ‘became known to Russian federation’ before they began, Intelligence chief says

“It is a serious problem, and we are taking some action,” he said.

“I’m not going to say more than the president.”

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted that the Kremlin knew about Kyiv’s counteroffensive plans before they began.

“Our counteroffensive actions last fall were on the Kremlin’s table even before they started,” he said at a major press conference held on Feb. 25 to mark the two-year anniversary of Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion.

The Ukrainian counteroffensive, announced in spring 2023 alongside the formation of a Western tank coalition and the delivery of Western-style tanks, faced various setbacks.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) successfully liberated several villages on the border of Zaporizhzhya and Donetsk oblasts in June. The Defense Ministry reported that Ukrainian troops were engaged in a preparatory formative operation, saying that the main offensive was yet to come.

Western media publications later began to suggest that the Ukrainian forces’ progress was lagging, a situation that can partly be attributed to extensively reinforced Russian defense lines. President Zelenskyy acknowledged that the counteroffensive was falling short of its desired pace.

In late June, Western media began to note that Ukraine had begun to change tactics after failures in the first stage. The Washington Post later said that Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi abandoned the original plan after four days.

Ukraine has been disappointed that some of its allies seem to have underestimated the scale of the battlefield and the strength of Russian defenses, possibly causing them to deliver military aid more slowly and hindering the counteroffensive’s progress, said Bloomberg.

President Zelenskyy has nevertheless asserted that Ukraine “remains strong” and emphasized that Ukraine achieved a number of remarkable successes in the Black Sea and in Russia-occupied Crimea.