15 December 2022 11.30pm
On Thursday, Ukrainian army commander Valery Zaluzhny predicted that Russia would launch a new attack on the capital, Kiev, in early 2023.
Zaluzhny said in an interview with the British weekly “The Economist” that there is a “very important strategic task for us, which is to create reserves and prepare” for what could happen “in February at the latest in March, and at lower maturities at the end of January.”
“I have no doubt they will try again to take control of Kiev,” he added.
In the interview, the commander of the Ukrainian army confirmed that he had made “all the calculations: how many tanks, artillery we need and so on” to repel a possible attack.
Russian forces closed within tens of kilometers of the center of the Ukrainian capital at the onset of the current crisis, before withdrawing from the region in late March and early April.
Zaluzhny said the Ukrainian army is currently facing a “problem” of “preserving the line” of the current front, which stretches from south to east, “and not lose any more ground.”
He also indicated, in his interview with The Economist, that the national energy grid is “walking a tightrope”, considering it “possible” that it is completely out of order as it has received new missile and drone attacks.
Strikes cause power outages across the country daily, leaving several million Ukrainians cold and in the dark.
Source: agencies
