Ukraine's Defence Minister explains what new Russia's offensive will look like

Monday, 6 February 2023, 10:43

Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s Defence Minister, believes that the Russians will not try to capture all of Ukraine at the same time, as was the case at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, but they will conduct concentrated battles on specific fronts during the expected new offensive in February,

Source: Reznikov in the interview with Ukrainska Pravda 

Quote: "The Russians tried the tactic of simultaneous capture of Ukraine in February last year. It did not work. That is, their resources were scattered, and they lost many elite units. Now their new tactic is concentrated, creeping attempts to capture, little by little, ten metres at a time, push away and wring out."

Details: According to Reznikov, currently the most serious groups of Russians are deployed in the east and south. The occupiers are accumulating forces to use other tactics in these areas.

Reznikov believes that the invaders will not go to Kherson again because when they fled, they burned all the bridges and crossings, but they will move across the land in the direction of Zaporizhzhia to expand the land corridor to the Crimea in order to continue supplies.

Reznikov emphasised that currently, the key risks are in the east, the south, and, after that, the north. At the same time, the minister states that "there are no panic reasons to flee the cities".

Reznikov called missile and drone attacks the only danger that remains, but at the same time recalled that the Ukrainian air defence system is also becoming more powerful and more skilled.

Reznikov also added that today, Ukraine has an understanding of where and how many Russian troops are accumulated. And in particular, nothing extraordinary is currently observed in the Belarusian direction; there are currently up to 12,000 Russian servicemen and a corresponding amount of equipment.

Background:

  • Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s Defence Minister, stated that the country's defence forces expect Russian offensive operations before the symbolic date of 24 February, when the full-scale invasion began; however, he urged people to trust only official information.
  • President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Russians want to try to recoup last year's failures in February, but Ukraine must survive.
  • The Financial Times, a British news outlet, reported on 6 February, referring to an unnamed adviser to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, that Russia plans to launch a new large-scale offensive within the next 10 days.

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