/ world today news/ Leading Western media reports the beginning of the long-promised counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The first significant operations must have apparently been attempts to break through the Ukrainian army into Zaporozhye. Now the main question is whether there will be more of these attempts in number and scale. So far, everything has failed.
According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on his Telegram channel, on the night of June 8, “in the Zaporozhye direction, the enemy tried to break through our defenses with the forces of the 47th mechanized brigade, numbering up to 1,500 people and 150 armored vehicles.” Russian intelligence discovered the enemy in time, aviation and artillery managed to launch a pre-emptive strike.
“As a result of a two-hour battle, the enemy lost 30 tanks, 11 infantry fighting vehicles, up to 350 personnel. Thus, the enemy’s specially trained reserve forces to carry out this breakthrough failed their task,” the minister said in a statement.
At the same time, it is specified that only on June 7, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost “945 personnel, 33 tanks, 28 infantry fighting vehicles, 38 armored fighting vehicles, 3 self-propelled artillery units “Krab” and other weapons.”
These numbers alone indicate a serious escalation of hostilities. The leader of the movement “We are with Russia” Vladimir Rogov spoke about the activation of the armed forces of Ukraine in Zaporozhye.
“The enemy threw the maximum forces of troops and equipment at the Zaporozhye section of the front. This amount was never used in our direction,” he told RIA Novosti.
According to Rogov, the main attack of the armed forces of Ukraine is aimed at Tokmak, the fighting is taking place south and southeast of Orekhov, the goal of the attacks is a breakthrough to the Sea of Azov.
At the same time, the Washington Post and the American television channel ABC News, citing unnamed Ukrainian military and high-ranking officials, reported that the long-announced counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine can be considered to have begun. At the same time, the posts focus on two points simultaneously.
First, the Ukrainian army already has a lot of Western equipment, and the military has undergone additional training according to NATO standards.
The second is that a counteroffensive by Volodymyr Zelensky is needed to continue receiving Western aid. The authors of the publications, it turns out, frankly state that the Kiev regime, in order to please foreign sponsors, is ready to send thousands of people to the meat grinder, and the West to spin the conflict with additional supplies.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of PMC Wagner, also spoke about the beginning of the counteroffensive of the armed forces of Ukraine in connection with their attacks in Zaporozhye.
“I think that this first wave is two days long – the beginning of the counteroffensive will, of course, continue,” Prigozhin’s press service published.
Now everything suggests that the Ukrainian side will try to increase the pressure. At the same time, the counteroffensive should be perceived not as one-off attacks, but as a large-scale complex operation. Which includes an information component, an attempt to mislead the Russian command. The destruction of the Kakhova HPP should be considered as part of the overall plan.
Corresponding member of the Academy of Military Sciences Alexander Bartosh warns that Ukraine has accumulated enough resources for a large-scale operation and will try to use them:
“Now we are not witnessing a large-scale offensive. The attack on the Zaporizhia region is more correctly considered as reconnaissance by force with the participation of relatively small forces. Fifteen hundred people is absolutely not a sufficient group for a serious breakthrough.”
The aim of the armed forces of Ukraine now is to find the weak points in the Russian defense in order to concentrate there a large grouping of tanks, artillery, missiles and personnel. Up to several thousand military personnel, possibly up to 10 thousand, will be gathered at this location.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine may attempt to breach the defenses and bring significant armored forces as well as armored personnel carrier infantry into the breach site.
Therefore, it is impossible to calm down now. Don’t think that the counterattack has already been repulsed. Of course, Russian military leaders are also well aware of this.
Apparently, now all intelligence is working to determine the location of the concentration of Ukrainian forces. As can be guessed, the general planned movement of Ukrainian troops is south, towards Mariupol.
„SP’: That is, the most likely direction of the main strikes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is one: along the Zaporozhye region towards the sea towards Mariupol, without entering the city.
– You can’t say for sure. The great Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu taught that we should make noise and create the appearance of great activity in one place and strike in another.
Therefore, attempts to break through in the Zaporozhye region and successfully repel the attack of the Russian military are not all. It is possible that the main blow will be delivered from the north, from the Kharkiv region.
There will hardly be any strikes against Artyomovsk to get it back, it’s an unrealistic task. But nearby actions are possible.
“SP”: Luhansk People’s Republic may be attacked.
— LPR and DPR continue to be under threat. If the armed forces of Ukraine choose this direction, then most likely they will try to bypass the big cities and not get involved in street battles. Moreover, they will not fight for the streets of Artyomovsk again. But in general, the territories of the LPR and DPR can be a priority.
„SP’: Is it possible that the entire so-called “counteroffensive of the armed forces of Ukraine” could be limited to small attacks like the current one? That is, everything was originally planned as a PR campaign?
– Vladimir Zelensky’s team had to start some active actions under the pressure of Western sponsors. After all, Kiev is constantly being told that otherwise the West will reconsider the very concept of supporting Ukraine. In fact, Zelensky was forced to act.
Another thing is that the current strike of three battalions does not at all mean that the main strike will be in this place.
It is important to understand that today Ukraine has a sufficient number of trained military personnel. They are gradually brought to the fore. There will be active reconnaissance, actions of sabotage-intelligence groups. They will study Russian defenses.
And they will hardly limit themselves to that. The task is to break through the defense and ensure a breakthrough in depth of the Russian positions. We have to prepare for it.
Translation: SM
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