Kiev is reportedly expected to launch a push against Russian forces at the end of this month
A Ukrainian serviceman gets into a T-72 tank near the frontline, March 26, 2023. © Sergey Shestak / AFP
The start of Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian troops has been planned for April 30, Newsweek reported on Sunday, citing a leaked Pentagon document.
Dated February 28, the file details equipment deliveries and a training schedule for nine brigades that “can be generated for the spring counteroffensive” with the help of the US and its allies. Three additional brigades are expected to be gathered “internally” in Ukraine, according to the file.
Out of the nine brigades trained and equipped by Western countries, six will be ready by March 31, while the “final” three will be ready by April 30, the document claimed.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal told The Hill during a visit to the US last week that an offensive might not be launched until the summer. Speaking to reporters on Monday, the premier suggested that the Pentagon leak would not change Kiev’s plans, asserting that “we are confident that the counteroffensive will happen in the nearest future.”
Aleksey Reznikov, Ukraine’s defense minister, previously said that offensive operations were dependent on the supply of heavy equipment from abroad. The Washington Post reported on April 12 that the long-expected push had been delayed due to bad weather, slow equipment deliveries, and ammunition shortages.
A trove of classified US documents, including intelligence reports and daily updates on the Ukraine conflict, came to the attention of news organizations in April after being dumped online sometime earlier this year. The suspected leaker, US airman Jack Teixeira, was arrested by the FBI last week.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday that Moscow had looked into the leaked documents, although Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has suggested that some of the files could be part of a “deception” campaign.
