Ukraine for the counter-offensive – Prigozhin fears “tragedy” for Russia

According to the Ukrainian army, the drone attack on the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia on Saturday served as preparation for the planned counter-offensive. “The infiltration of enemy logistics is one of the preparatory elements for the vigorous active actions of our armed forces, which we have been talking about for a long time,” said the press secretary of the Ukrainian army’s Southern Command Nataliya Humenyuk on Sunday. . “And this work prepares the large-scale offensive that everyone has been waiting for.”

The Russian fuel depot in Sevastopol, Crimea, caught fire on Saturday morning after being the target of the drone attack. Russia has reported no deaths or injuries. In addition, no civilian objects were damaged in the attack. However, Ukrainian military intelligence reported that ten oil tanks had been destroyed. While Kiev did not claim responsibility for the attack, Ukraine’s military intelligence said such blasts would continue.

Russia currently occupies about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. Internationally, people have been eagerly awaiting an announced major Ukrainian offensive for weeks. The attacked country also wants to take back the occupied territories with the help of Western weapons.

Ukraine and its allies are not the only ones eagerly awaiting the start of the counter-offensive. In Russia, too, preparations for the counter-attack by Ukraine are closely followed – and sometimes with concern.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner’s mercenary unit, is concerned about this: “This counter-offensive could become a tragedy for our country,” he said in an interview with Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov on Sunday.

It is possible that Prigozhin wants to put pressure on the Russian army again with the statement and it is purely a matter of calculation. Because he returned to his main topic in his justification for the fear expressed: one of the central problems is the insufficient supply of his fighters with ammunition: “We have only ten to fifteen percent of the shells we need,” said the Wagner boss . He again blamed the Russian army command.

Different criteria for evaluating the counter-offensive

Many factors will determine whether Ukraine’s planned counter-offensive will be viewed as successful by the allied states. Mick Ryan, a former Major General in the Australian Army, cites seven different elements on Twitter that can be important when measuring success. He describes the time when the Ukrainian counter-offensive begins as “Hour H”. With this designation, the military language means the deadline of military operations.

In addition to gaining ground in Russian territory, Ryan believes it is imperative that Ukraine’s armed forces eliminate Russian command posts and logistics behind the front lines. This could seriously limit the Russians’ ability to counter the counter-offensive.

Ryan identifies the reconquest of Crimea as the ultimate war goal. “A counter-offensive would be successful if Ukrainian forces are gearing up for an offensive against Crimea,” the former major general writes.

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(t-online, dpa, te)