Selensky adviser Mykhailo Podoljak announces a new phase in the war: all signs point to a counter-offensive

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The start of the major Ukrainian counter-offensive has been expected for weeks. Mykhailo Podoliak (51), adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (45), made a surprising statement on Italian television on Wednesday evening: “The counter-offensive has been going on for days.”

Podoliak went on to say: “This is an intense war along a 1,500-kilometer border. Our actions have already begun.” Selenski himself has not yet commented on this.

The world expected Ukraine to launch its firecracker counter-offensive against the Russian invaders. That doesn’t seem to have happened. Podoljak teased Thursday Twitter: “It’s not a one-off action that starts at a certain time on a certain day with the ceremonial cutting of the red ribbon.”

Deadly weapons arrived

In recent weeks, signals have accumulated that a counteroffensive is imminent or has begun. On the one hand, more and more important arms shipments from the West, including the Anglo-French long-range “Storm Shadow” missiles, are arriving in Ukraine. Moreover, newly trained Ukrainian soldiers are also flocking to the front.

In the past 24 hours, 40 Russian artillery pieces were also destroyed by Ukrainian hits – almost a record for the entire war, according to the monitoring group uacontrolmap.

This “preparatory fire” is part of the beginning of an offensive, as Marcel Berni (34), strategy expert at the ETH Military Academy, explains: “Ukraine is working to facilitate future territorial advance options. The goal of this phase is to weaken, deceive and confuse the adversary.”

One of the current goals of this phase is to overwhelm the Russian army. This should create gaps that the Ukrainian army could use for advances.

Attack on Crimea

This is followed by the second and third phase, according to Berni. “In the second phase, which has not yet started, a breakthrough should be easier. In the third phase, the territory gained is checked and defended.” The direction in which the Ukrainian troops want to advance has been clear to experts since the beginning of May, as evidenced by local offensives: it is heading south.

Mick Ryan, retired Australian army major general, suspects: Zaporizhia will be the focus of a Ukrainian counter-offensive. Ian Matveev, a Russian military analyst, also points to Zaporizhia as a key point for the Ukrainian military.

If most of the oblast falls back into Ukrainian hands, the troops can continue their advance towards Melitopol. From there, Matveev said, Ukraine could launch an offensive toward Crimea, the peninsula that Ukraine’s military conflict began to occupy in 2014.

Source: Blick