1 minute video posted on social media
NYT “Most Direct Mention”
The “mud season” is over, the weapons are secure
Observing an impending ‘spring counter-attack’
A senior Ukrainian army general hinted at an impending Ukrainian “counterattack”. There is also an analysis that the prelude to the great counterattack has already begun.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army, Valery Zaluzny, posted a one-minute video on Telegram on the 27th (local time) showing Ukrainian forces preparing for battle, saying: “It’s time to take ours back.”
In this cinematic video, Ukrainian soldiers shout, “God bless our decisive attack, our holy revenge and our holy victory.
The video was broadcast across Ukraine on television. It also quickly spread to social networking services (SNS). The New York Times (NYT) pointed out, “Although the timing of the counterattack remains unclear, Commander Zaluzni’s remarks are the most direct reference to the approach of a counterattack.”
Oleksi Danlow, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Committee, was interviewed by the BBC on the same day and asked about a counterattack, he said: “We are always ready”.
Mikhailo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian president’s office, told the Guardian that preliminary operations for a counter-offensive had already begun. He said: “(The counterattack) is not a matter of a specific day, a specific date or a specific time, but a complex process. It is an ongoing process of liberation “The intensity is going to get stronger,” Podoliak said.
In fact, Ukraine has recently stepped up its strikes against targets in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, including the Russian mainland near the border with Ukraine, such as the southern Russian provinces of Rostov and western Belgorod, as well as the Kram Peninsula and Zaporozhye, which Russia forcibly annexed in 2014.
The disruption of internet and telecommunications in parts of the Russian-occupied territories is also interpreted as a sign of an imminent counterattack by Ukraine. According to NetBlock, a watchdog organization that monitors internet security, internet service was suspended on the 26th in strategically important areas such as the Crimean peninsula and parts of Zaporizhia, the Russian-occupied southeast of Verdyansk and the south of Melitopol.
The notorious “Rasputica” (mud season) problem in Ukraine, which makes it difficult for vehicles and soldiers to move every spring and autumn when the ground turns to mud, has also been resolved. The Washington Post reported on the 26th that “near optimal conditions for a counterattack have been established” as the temperature in Ukraine recently reached around 25.5 degrees Celsius and the hot, dry weather continued. After preparing for a counterattack all winter, Ukraine waited for the rain to stop, the temperature to rise and the ground to harden.
Ukraine is accelerating its acquisition of the West’s last weapons before a counterattack. It has been confirmed that Ukraine, which received so-called “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles from Britain earlier this month, has also requested cruise missile support from Germany. Reuters reported on the 27th that a spokesman for the German Ministry of Defense acknowledged German media reports the day before that Ukraine had recently requested German assistance for the Taurus, a cruise missile with a range of 500 km. However, the German Ministry of Defense did not mention specific details such as the possibility of actual support.
