If things go badly, the next wave of Russian offensives could roll over Ukraine as early as the end of January. The capital will sooner or later be the target of the attack again, of that the supreme commander Saluschnyj is sure. He also makes very specific demands for arms for defence.
The Ukrainian supreme commander Valeriy Saluschnyi expects a new major Russian offensive in the coming year. “In the worst case, at the end of January,” he said in an interview with the British magazine “The Economist”. The Russians would train around 200,000 fresh soldiers for this.
The Ukrainian army, for its part, is also preparing its own reserves for this purpose. He cannot yet say whether the offensive will start in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass, in the south, or from the ex-Soviet republic of Belarus to the north, aimed directly at Kyiv. Nevertheless, sooner or later the Ukrainian capital will be a target again. “I have no doubt that they will attack Kyiv again,” Zalushnyj said.
He also called for new weapons for a victory over the Russian army. “I need 300 main battle tanks, 600 to 700 armored personnel carriers and 500 howitzers,” the 49-year-old continued. This would make it possible to push the Russian troops back to the positions before the invasion on February 24, said Zalushny. However, he is currently receiving less funding than he needs. Larger operations cannot be carried out with it, but a new one is being worked out. “She’s on her way,” the general assured.
Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February. At the end of March, the Russian army had to withdraw from the area around the capital Kyiv. All in all, the Ukrainian units commanded by Zalushny have now wrested back more than half of the territory conquered since February from the Russians. Nevertheless, Moscow, including Crimea, which was annexed in 2014, still controls a good 18 percent of Ukraine’s territory.
