Russia tries to present any of its actions as delaying Ukraine's counter-offensive – ISW

The response to the alleged attack on the car carrying Major General Ihor Tantsiura, Commander of the Territorial Defence Forces of Ukraine, suggests that Russia is trying to present any of its operations as delaying Ukraine's potential counter-offensive, analysts at the Institute for War Studies (ISW) believe.

Source: ISW report

Details: Yevgeny Prigozhin, financier of the Wagner Private Military Company, said that the PMC had attacked a Ukrainian armoured vehicle carrying Tantsiura on its way to the city of Bakhmut on 2 May. He posted a video of the alleged attack.

In particular, Denys Zelinskyi, Territorial Defence Spokesman, challenged Prigozhin's statement saying that everyone was "safe and sound".

The institute's analysts note that Russian military journalists widely circulated Prigozhin's statement and presented it as an information victory.

As the ISW report stated, one well-known Russian blogger claimed that Tantsiura had been ordered to deploy backup to Bakhmut and prepare Ukrainian forces to launch counterattacks in the area.

The institute believes this presentation of information highlighted the Russian strike as an operationally important event that delayed potential future Ukrainian counter-offensive actions.

The ISW also recalled that earlier Russian pro-war bloggers claimed that the strike on the city of Pavlohrad on 1 May affected a critical Ukrainian logistics and stockpiling centre and suggested that the strike would delay the Ukrainian counter-offensive.

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