“Days of Waiting: Western Allies Prepare for Ukraine’s Reversal Offensive”

Days Waiting for ‘D-Day’, Western Expectations of ‘Moderate’ Success

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(The Economist, April 22, 2023)

HIMARS is one of the most important weapons for a Ukrainian counteroffensive (pictured is deployed in Latvia, taken on September 26, 2022, from the U.S. Army website)

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Western allies expect success, but not too much success.

“Do the spine!”

A man shouts in Russian and chides his colleague.

“What is it, have you ever cut off your head?”

The video shows a Russian soldier apparently decapitating a living Ukrainian soldier with a dagger.

“Put it in that bag.”

I hear a different man’s voice.

“I’ll send it to his superiors.”

The video, posted by a prominent far-right Russian account on the social media site Telegram on April 11, angered Ukrainians.

‘Everybody has to fight back’

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said:

“We never forget anything”

Mr. Zelensky’s forces will soon have a chance to retaliate.

Both sides are preparing for a reversal offensive

Ukraine’s reversal offensive is expected to begin in the next few days or weeks. Few people know exactly when and where it begins.

Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on April 6 that only five senior officials knew all the details.

But Russian soldiers are ready.

Britain’s Defense Intelligence Agency said on April 12 that Russia had completed building three 120-kilometre (120-kilometer) front lines in Zaporozhye province after reading that Ukraine would attack Melitopol.

It is said that anti-tank obstacles called “Dragon’s Teeth” were lined up along the P37 main road southeast of the town of Shiroke.

Taking Melitopol would help Ukrainian forces cut off the strip of land linking the eastern Donbass region with the Russian-occupied Crimea.

The Ukrainian strike force consists of at least double-digit brigades (some sources say as many as 18), nine of which are supplied with weapons and supplies by Western allies.

(One brigade often has thousands of soldiers.)

In all, the nine brigades had more than 200 tanks, 800 other armored vehicles, and 150 field artillery, according to classified US documents leaked on the Internet in early March and circulated widely in April. should be equipped.

It’s a large force, but it has some major flaws.