Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhnyi, is planning a new counteroffensive. Ukraine is likely to raise resources for new operations in 2024.
Zaluzhnyi is planning a new counteroffensive next year
The publication notes that many of the armoured vehicles promised to be provided to Ukraine by its partners have not yet been used. Some of the equipment has not reached Ukraine at all. In particular, we are talking about Leopard 1 tanks. Germany and its allies promised to provide 200 tanks of the old version, of which, according to Welt, Ukraine has received only 30 units.
German security expert and political advisor Nico Lange believes that Ukraine is relying on attrition.
They are no longer trying to hold their positions, as they did in Bakhmut. Instead, they want to slow down the Russian troops and let them bleed out, he said.
The publication claims that Ukraine has big plans. This is evidenced by the list of weapons that the Ukrainian leadership has handed over to the United States. Previously, this list was published by Reuters, and included Black Hawk and Apache helicopters, as well as F-16 and F-18 fighters, long-range missile systems, Abrams tanks, numerous drones and ammunition.
According to Nico Lange, Ukraine is trying to move to mobile warfare, which was never implemented during the summer counteroffensive.
Welt added that Zaluzhnyi agreed to the summer counteroffensive only for political reasons. According to the publication, the commander-in-chief saw no chance of success without sufficient air support. Therefore, he replaced the offensive with the use of equipment for assaults by small infantry groups.
Journalists believe that without mechanised support, a quick breakthrough was impossible. The substitution was a smart move by Zaluzhnyi. By attacking with small units, he saved his soldiers and weapons systems from the West and gained important time.
Ukraine is probably gathering resources for a new counteroffensive next year, said expert Lange.
The German publication adds that a foothold in the Kherson region could become one of the areas of the offensive.
With the necessary fighter jets, attack helicopters and drones, Ukraine could adequately support the advance of its troops, especially since there are almost no Russian fortifications in the region. It would be a counteroffensive, which is probably what Zaluzhnyi had in mind from the very beginning, the journalists add.
The situation at the front
In the summer of 2023, the Ukrainian military launched a counteroffensive in the south and east of our country. The armed forces managed to liberate more than a dozen settlements in the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions. However, the main goal of gaining access to the Sea of Azov was not achieved.
At present, the Ukrainian military is mostly on the defensive and, whenever possible, on the offensive. In particular, in the area of Bakhmut and Zaporizhzhia region.
Recently, it became known that the Ukrainian military recaptured one of the waste heaps in Horlivka district in the Donetsk region from the occupiers. The soldiers also managed to capture enemy positions.
