Senior Ukrainian says assault to retake territory from Russian forces could begin “tomorrow”
A senior Ukrainian government official says the country is ready to begin a major counteroffensive against Russian forces to win back its territories.
Ukrainian forces are believed to be already carrying out operations in the south of the country.
Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, told the BBC that an assault to retake territory from Russian forces could begin “tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week.”
He called it an “historic opportunity” that Ukraine cannot lose.
Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said on social media on Saturday, “It’s time to take back what’s ours.”
Yevgeny Balitsky, head of the pro-Russian separatists in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, says Ukrainian forces are continuing attacks with cruise missiles given by Britain. Russia claims to have annexed the region. Balitsky adds that a Ukrainian counteroffensive is likely to start soon.
Ukrainian military operations in the region are believed to have already begun, as there have been explosions at military facilities in cities controlled by Russian forces.
Britain’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday that Russia’s private military firm Wagner Group forces “have likely started to withdraw from some of their positions around the Donetsk city of Bakhmut.”
But the ministry adds the Russian military has likely deployed an airborne unit in the area.
Russian military units are believed to be replacing the Wagner Group. On Friday, the US-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War said, “Continued successful limited Ukrainian counterattacks on Bakhmut’s flanks may complicate the Russian relief in place operation in Bakhmut.”
