Reports that the Ukraine military’s long-awaited counteroffensive has begun and is focused on retaking large swaths of land seized by Russia comes as no surprise to intelligence experts.
Ukrainian officials have been unwilling to discuss a counteroffensive timeline, but the Russian Defense Ministry says the Ukraine military has begun applying “maximum force” along multiple areas along the front line.
Zev Faintuch is a senior intelligence analyst at the Global Guardian, an international security firm with boots on the ground in Ukraine.
“From where we’re sitting, there is no doubt that it has started,” Faintuch told USA TODAY. “From what both the Russians and Ukrainians are saying and from what our teams on the ground are seeing, Ukrainian forces have made a concerted series of larger-scale offensive actions along the front in south Donetsk and around Bakhmut.”
Faintuch said a “sense of cautious optimism” pervades Ukraine now. The country is more unified than ever, he said, as Russia’s brutal bombings have damaged support for Russian President Vladimir Putin among ethnic-Russians in Ukraine. Still, the results of the counteroffensive could be crucial for Ukraine and it’s acclaimed leader, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Fantuch said.
“Failure in the counteroffensive will have dire consequences for the Zelenskyy regime and the political future of the current cast of actors leading Ukraine,” he said.
Floating mines, contaminated water, dead fish among threats from dam breach: Ukraine updates
Developments:
- Ukraine will be high on the agenda when British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak makes his first White House visit Thursday. Britain has been among Ukraine’s biggest supporters.
- Drone footage of a collapsed dam near Kherson and surrounding villages under Russian occupation shows the ruined structure falling into the flooded river and hundreds of submerged homes, greenhouses and a church.
- Russia accused Ukraine of bombarding the dam, which was under Moscow’s control, while Ukraine alleged that Russia blew it up from within.
Zelenskyy visits flooded Kherson region
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived Thursday in a section of Kherson still under Ukraine control. Flooding has driven thousands from their homes, and much of the region is without running water. Zelenskyy accused the Russia-appointed administration of failing to help with evacuations occupied areas and bombing the areas that remain under Ukraine control.
“The situation in the occupied part of Kherson region is absolutely catastrophic,” Zelenskyy said. “The occupiers simply abandoned people in these terrible conditions. Without rescue, without water, just on the rooftops in flooded communities.”
How destruction of vital Ukraine dam unleashed floods that threaten thousands: graphics
Contributing: The Associated Press
