Kiev ruled out the possibility of a counteroffensive before the end of the year
Ukraine will not be able to carry out a large-scale offensive until at least the end of this year. The reason is that it does not have ammunition, sufficient artillery and aircraft.
Advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Viktor Andrusiv stated this on air at Apostrophe TV, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
According to Andrusiv, all statements about Western military assistance in these directions remain just talk.
“As for our counter-offensive, unfortunately, I believe that there will not be a large counter-offensive with the liberation of territory this year. I’ll explain why. Very powerful counterattacks will be launched, which will push back the Russians and inflict heavy losses on them, but I don’t see the possibility of a large counteroffensive that will liberate the occupied territories. The first reason why this is so is that our Western partners, unfortunately, did not fulfill what they promised us. For understanding, to attack, the attacking side must have an advantage of at least two to three times the defending side.
And we are now tens of times weaker even in the places where we are defending in terms of firepower. Because, for example, if we have an advantage over them even in personnel, because we really have a lot of mobilized people and, in principle, a lot of soldiers, then they have a tenfold advantage over us with their firepower. These are missiles, artillery, tanks, endless aviation, of which we have very little. No one has given us aviation yet; we need to understand that the aviation that is fighting has survived three months of war,” the official said.
“In this war there cannot be a counter-offensive without aviation and without artillery, which perform a preparatory function, and then the troops attack. We have difficulties with both the first and the second. Nobody gave us aviation, and we have so little artillery that by the time they finally give us it normally, our artillery, the Soviet artillery, which we are using now, will no longer work, because it will run out of ammunition. And this will happen within a few months,” Andrusiv said.
Kyiv has ruled out the possibility of a counteroffensive by the end of the year.