< p _ngcontent-sc100="" class="news-annotation">Absolutely every Ukrainian is looking forward to the Victory over the enemy. And, according to experts, the hot phase of the war may end as early as 2023.
It was previously assumed that it would end by the summer of this year, and by this time the Ukrainian troops would reach the 1991 borders. This was told by military expert Oleg Zhdanov, reports Channel 24.
The number of weapons matters
However, in his opinion, such events may occur closer to the fall of this year, because it depends, in particular, on the number of weapons provided by Western partners to Ukraine.
Because they give us a lot of weapons now, but not as much as we would like. Plus slowly give. If these weapons had been given a month or two ago, today we could carry out a counter-next operation before the formation of strike offensive groups in Russia,” Zhdanov said.
However, since “partner countries are in no hurry to transfer weapons to us,” not only Ukraine, but also our enemy has time to prepare its troops. According to the military expert, the Ukrainians need to prepare not for a new counteroffensive, but for a defensive operation that could drag on for several months.
The counterattack drags on
If Ukraine succeeds in inflicting maximum losses on the occupants and incurring minimal losses, then after the defeat of the main Russian troops and regrouping, it will be possible to launch a counteroffensive. Since there are a lot of variables, Oleg Zhdanov found it difficult to name a specific time when the counteroffensive of Ukraine would begin.
God grant that we complete the defense operation by early summer. And in the summer there may be a regrouping, there may be the beginning of a counter-offensive operation. But then again, if we are able to carry it out by this moment, if by this moment we will again be given a set of equipment that will allow us to carry it out,” he said.
Therefore, according to him, the conduct of counter-offensive actions with a possible exit to the borders of 1991 is possible only at the end of summer or at the beginning of autumn.
How mobilization in Russia will affect Ukraine's plans
Also Oleg Zhdanov stressed that the pace of the counter-offensive operation is also affected by the success of mobilization measures in the aggressor country itself. Yes, Putin wants to collect another 500,000 mobilized by summer, and a million by winter. However, the successes of the Ukrainian defense operation may break these plans.
If we smash this first wave of 300,000, then the second will not come. This is a very important point that needs to be taken into account, the expert emphasized.
And if this fails, then Russian propaganda will “inflate it into the flames of victory”, which will only throw firewood into the ideologically inflated society of Russia. And it is already set up for war and is ready to go to the Ukrainian machine guns, and not against the command.
