Preparations for the Ukrainian offensive have reached the home stretch
There are more and more signs of an impending offensive by Ukrainian forces against the positions of Russian troops.
Both Russian and Western media write about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Kommersant draws attention to the fact that recently, one after another, reports have appeared about the supply of certain types of Western armored vehicles, in particular tanks, to Ukraine.
Thus, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Alexei Reznikov published a photo against the backdrop of samples of Western armored vehicles supplied to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“Soon these fantastic machines will begin performing combat missions,” Reznikov threatened.
“In other words, the closer the dates for a possible counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, previously mentioned in the press, the more reports appear about arms supplies to Ukraine,” Kommersant concludes.
In turn, the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal claims that the offensive should begin “in the coming weeks,” and its goal will be an attempt to cut the land corridor to Crimea.
“This is a very risky campaign that will determine the course of further battles and possible peace negotiations,” writes the American publication.
The publication notes that Ukraine is provided with armored vehicles, but it lacks aviation, and the Russian Armed Forces had enough time to prepare for the offensive.
And the German weekly Der Spiegel writes that Kyiv is concentrating Western armored vehicles with Ukrainian crews trained in NATO countries in Western Ukraine, in order to then “secretly transfer them towards the front.”
Military expert retired colonel Vladimir Popov, in a comment to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, believes that the plan of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is “to introduce the main reserves formed with the help of NATO into the decisive battle on day X.”
According to him, at least 180-200 tanks from NATO countries have already been deployed to Ukraine, which is equivalent to the formation of at least three tank brigades, reinforced with alliance armored vehicles - light combat vehicles and armored personnel carriers.
The expert believes that, taking into account the existing reserves, these combat vehicles will be enough to try to strike in the Azov direction.
“As a diversionary action, we can expect attempts by naval units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to cross the Dnieper on American boats,” Popov does not rule out. “To prevent landings, the command of the Russian Armed Forces deployed multi-echelon minefields and defensive positions on the left bank of the river and along the entire line of combat contact with the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
However, military expert Alexey Leonkov, known for his bravura statements about the imminent collapse of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, reassures that Russia is striking at places where Ukrainian reserves are concentrated.
“We are striking not only at infrastructure, but also at places where concentrations of enemy armored vehicles, ammunition and manpower are identified. They are building some kind of logistics routes to transfer all this to the line of combat contact. But we hit carefully and accurately,” Leonkov told Izvestia.
He added that the Russian Armed Forces use different means: Iskander complexes, Kalibr sea-launched cruise missiles, and air-launched weapons.
“We have previously used hypersonic weapons; we are still the only country in the world that uses them in combat conditions,” Leonkov emphasized.
Military observer Boris Rozhin also confirms the attacks on concentrations of Ukrainian reserves, reporting yesterday:
“In the evening, the Russian Armed Forces again launch massive missile strikes on the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration (flying in the area of Chasov Yar, Konstantinovka and Kramatorsk - this is where the reserves of the Artemovsk group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are located), and also attack Kupyansk, which the enemy is preparing for defense.”
The military-analytical public “Rybar” Rybar analyzed photographs of Western armored vehicles published by the Minister of Defense of Ukraine and determined the location of the shooting.
“The shot included a British Challenger 2 tank, a German Marder infantry fighting vehicle, an American Bradley infantry fighting vehicle and an Australian Bushmaster armored personnel carrier. Based on the characteristic features captured by the operator, our OSINT team determined the exact location of the facility where Ukrainian formations are being trained: this is the 37-1 combined arms training ground near the village of Perlyavka, southwest of Zhitomir. Coordinates: 50.202333, 28.509047
The training center is actively used for training assault forces. Over the past couple of months, training has been carried out on the territory of the 37th training ground for the 77th airmobile and 82nd air assault brigades of the Ukrainian Air Force,” analysts point out.
According to them, these two brigades, along with several others, will form the shock backbone of the offensive group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“The presence of wheeled armored vehicles of various types confirms the Ukrainian command’s focus on the involvement of mobile armored groups in the spring-summer campaign to invade Russian territory,” Rybar warns.
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