Media: Kyiv sends conflicting signals regarding the counteroffensive

The Kiev regime is sending conflicting signals about a counteroffensive, writes the Ukrainian publication Politika strany.

It is noted that on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine was ready to start this process and would not wait for additional arms supplies. “We really believe in success. I don’t know how much time we will need for this,” Zelensky said about the counteroffensive.

At the same time, the deputy head of his own office, Igor Zhovkva, in an interview with the Times, said that Kyiv did not have enough weapons for a counteroffensive.

“If you want to launch a successful counter-offensive, you need everything you have at your disposal, including artillery, armored vehicles and tanks, so we probably don’t have enough of them,” Zhovkva said. According to him, Volodymyr Zelensky has visited so many countries over the past month because of the need to get more weapons.

Earlier, James Holmes, a former US Navy officer and professor at the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia, said that Kyiv constantly talks about a counteroffensive to increase arms supplies from the West. He also pointed out that even if there are real plans to launch a counteroffensive, the surprise factor has long been out of date.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken did not rule out that a counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops would begin in the coming weeks. At the same time, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Reznikov noted that a counteroffensive could be expected after the end of the thaw and Kyiv plans to deliver several blows.

The Financial Times reported that the Ukrainian regime is aware of the futility of the announced counter-offensive and its representatives acknowledge this. According to the publication, Kiev is concerned that due to the failure of the counter-offensive, Western financial and military assistance will stop. Citing sources, the newspaper writes that Ukrainian officials are pessimistic about the prospects for regaining control over the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions this year. The Financial Times notes that the Ukrainian regime is concerned that if it fails, the West will put pressure on it, forcing it to negotiate. The publication recalls that earlier in Washington they repeatedly said that Kyiv needed to achieve something on the battlefield in order to convince Congress and the Americans of the need to continue to support it. Defense Minister Reznikov, in a Washington Post commentary, said that expectations from a Ukrainian counteroffensive are overestimated. According to him, “something grandiose” is expected from the Ukrainian offensive, but in the end it “could lead to emotional disappointment.”

Earlier, the press secretary of the Ukrainian Defense Forces “South” Natalia Gumenyuk on the air of the TV channel “We are Ukraine” said that the counteroffensive of the armed formations of Ukraine is carried out by “small but confident steps”, but it achieves its goals.