“It is time to recover what is ours”

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, through his Twitter account has hinted that the start of the massive counteroffensive against the Russian occupation forces could be imminent. “The time has come to recover what is ours,” he said. The text appears below a video just over a minute long showing Ukrainian forces apparently training at dawn.

The video also shows a series of equipment supplied by the West, including tanks Leopard 2 made in Germany, as well as MRAP armored vehicles (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) made in the USA, M777 artillery pieces and HIMARS rocket launcher.

It ends with the soldiers and their commander chanting a defiant message: “Ukraine, my homeland, Lord, our heavenly father, bless our decisive offensiveour holy revengeour holy victory“. Officially, the counteroffensive has not yet begun.

Russian forces have temporarily eased their attacks on the city of Bakhmut, to regroup and strengthen their capabilities, according to a senior kyiv official. In addition, from Ukraine they have indicated that their forces are ready to launch a long counteroffensive to recover the territory taken by Russia since the beginning of the war.

The mercenary army Wagner it has started to cede positions to regular troops this week after declaring full control of Bakhmut. In a statement on Telegram, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister, Hanna Maliarsaid Russian forces continued to attack, but that general offensive activity had subsided. “Yesterday and today there were no active battles, neither in the city nor on the flanks,” he wrote.

Maliar has assured that “the decrease in the offensive activity of the enemy is due to the fact that the troops are being replaced and regrouped” and added that “the enemy is trying to strengthen its own capabilities”.

Oleksiy DanilovSecretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, told the British Broadcasting Corporation that the attack could begin “tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week”.

[Ucrania ataca Berdyansk, Krasnodar, Donetsk y Rostov para desarmar a Rusia de cara a la ofensiva]

The presidential aide, Mykhailo Podolyakspeaking to the British newspaper Guardiansaid they had already started preliminary operations such as the destruction of supply lines or destruction of warehouses.

kyiv is expected to launch a counter-offensive soon to recapture Russian-occupied territory.

[La contraofensiva de Ucrania contra Rusia ya ha comenzado: los detalles que revelan su estrategia]