MP Kostenko explains timing of Ukraine's counter-offensive
A Ukrainian tank in a position near the front line in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, March 16, 2023 (Photo:REUTERS)
The main prerequisite for the Ukrainian counter-offensive is weather conditions, Roman Kostenko, Holos party MP and Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, told Radio NV in an interview on March 18.
"No matter how much equipment you have, you cannot effectively attack when there is mud everywhere, very few passable routes, all roads are exposed to (enemy fire); when you cannot deploy in battle order, but must move only in columns or in battle formation," the MP said.
He also named other necessary conditions for a counter-offensive, such as the availability of forces, means, reserves and ammunition.
In early March, Major General Viktor Nazarov, chief adviser to Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said that Ukraine's counter-offensive would begin when logistics were established.
According to news website Politico, Ukraine's major spring counter-offensive is expected to begin in May.
Meanwhile, U.S. newspaper the Washington Post reported that pessimism is growing in the Ukrainian army due to heavy losses and a lack of experienced soldiers.
The newspaper published a commentary by a senior Ukrainian official who is skeptical about the Ukrainian army's counter-offensive in the spring, and who called the number of tanks pledged to the Ukrainian army "symbolic."
"If you have more resources, you more actively attack," the official said anonymously.
“If you have fewer resources, you defend more. We’re going to defend. That’s why if you ask me personally, I don’t believe in a big counter-offensive for us. I’d like to believe in it, but I’m looking at the resources and asking, ‘With what?’ Maybe we’ll have some localized breakthroughs. We don’t have the people or weapons. And you know the ratio: When you’re on the offensive, you lose twice or three times as many people. We can’t afford to lose that many people.”
At the same time, the Washington Post said that it is difficult to see the full picture of the combat capability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as Kyiv is still preparing troops for a future counter-offensive.
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