Kiev still has “big plans” underpinned by Western equipment not yet destroyed, the report says
FILE PHOTO. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Commander of Ukraine’s Ground Forces Col.-Gen. Alexander Syrsky, and Roman Mashovets, deputy head of the Presidential Office, look at a map. © AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
Ukraine could be gathering forces to launch a fresh counteroffensive in 2024 after its first push, which started this summer, failed to break Russian lines, Welt reported on Friday, citing a German expert.
In an interview with the German daily, Nico Lange, a former German defense official who is now a senior fellow at the Munich Security Conference, suggested that despite the growing pessimism in the West about Ukraine’s progress on the battlefield, Kiev still maintains a decent amount of military equipment, with more deliveries expected to arrive from the West.
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“Ukraine is probably gathering resources for a new counteroffensive next year,” the expert suggested, adding that Kiev may begin the new push in the Kherson area and attempt to cross the Dniepr River in force.
Meanwhile, the report noted that Ukraine “still has big plans,” explaining that those aspirations are evidenced by Kiev’s wish list submitted to the US, which includes attack helicopters, advanced fighter jets, long-range missile systems, Abrams tanks, and other equipment.
At the same time, Bild reported on Friday, citing sources, that Ukraine was drawing up a “new war plan.” According to the magazine, Kiev has shelved plans to push Russia out of the territories it claims as its own and is instead focusing on inflicting maximum losses on Moscow.
“Our goal is to have the kill ratio as positive as possible,” an unnamed officer told Bild, adding that if Kiev achieved a ratio of losses of 10 to 1 in its favor, it would advance, while a ratio of 1 to 1 would ultimately mean retreat.
Another source was quoted as saying that Kiev’s “positions are irrelevant, the main thing is that most Ukrainians stay alive.” An unnamed former Western military expert told Bild that “what we are experiencing is basically a controlled rearguard action.”
Ukraine launched a much-anticipated counteroffensive in early June but has failed to gain any substantial ground despite being reinforced with ample amounts of Western equipment. Several months into the offensive, even top Ukrainian officials, including Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, started to admit that the push had missed the mark.
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In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin estimated the ratio of losses as 8 to 1 in Moscow’s favor, and earlier this month, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu claimed that Kiev had suffered more than 125,000 casualties since early summer.
