Next six months to be decisive in Russia-Ukraine war, says NATO official
NATO expects a counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the next six months (Photo:REUTERS/Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey)
The next six months will be decisive in Russia’s war on Ukraine, a top NATO official said in an interview with German tabloid newspaper Bild on March 21.
“We’re preparing for a (Ukrainian) offensive in spring or summer,” he said.
“The next six months will be a key period in the war not only for Ukraine, but also for the allies.”
The official said he has no doubt that the weapons currently supplied by the West will be used as early as May to oust the Russian army from southern and eastern Ukraine.
He also revealed possible areas of the Ukrainian counter-offensive but added he had to be very careful about what he said, for security reasons.
Russia “fairly” predicts that the main Ukrainian offensives will take place in Luhansk and Zaporizhzhya oblasts, the official said.
The NATO official noted that he cannot comment on Ukraine’s further offensives, and they should be considered either as a diversion of Russian forces or as a real goal of efforts to liberate Ukrainian territories.
He emphasized that the main goal of the offensive in the southeast of the country is to “break through the land bridge to Crimea” — referring to the area of Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia that links Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula to Russia itself.
The United States is focused on preparing Ukraine for a major spring counter-offensive to recapture the territories seized by Russia, which could begin before May, news website Politico reported earlier.
On the same day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an evening address that Ukrainian Defense Forces were preparing new active actions.
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