DAVID BRENNAN IN COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
Czech President Petr Pavel has warned that Ukraine's window for major offensive operations against occupying Russian troops will again close in the autumn, and urged fellow NATO nations to provide Ukraine with "all necessary equipment and ammunition" before spring turns to summer.
Speaking at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit in the Danish capital on Monday, Pavel—who previously served as the chairman of the NATO Military Committee and as the chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces—said allies must not wait to send potent weapons to Ukraine.
"Ukraine has a chance to launch a significant counterattack this summer, and the window is shrinking now," the Czech president said in Copenhagen. "The later the contributions come, the less useful they will be, because in the fall there will again be a stop to large military operations because of weather conditions and ground conditions."
"To use properly the time window that is available, we should have provided Ukraine with all necessary equipment and ammunition in the springtime, at the latest," Pavel added.
Kyiv has been preparing—and teasing—its next counteroffensive for several months. Western heavy armor, other vehicles, long-range missiles, drones, and huge amounts of ammunition have been arriving to support Kyiv's troops, thousands of whom have been undergoing training at NATO bases spread across alliance nations.
So-called "shaping operations"—operations that create a beneficial environment for the offensive's eventual push—appear to already be underway, with Ukrainian deep strikes targeting Russian logistics and command hubs in a bid to erode Moscow's capabilities.
Ukrainian troops, meanwhile, are also taking ground around the destroyed eastern city of Bakhmut, now synonymous with the widely reported attritional brutality that has characterized most of Russia's military operations in Ukraine since its full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Russian commanders have reportedly tasked elite airborne troops with constraining the advance. Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry to request comment.
It remains to be seen where Ukraine's main push—likely supported by Western platforms like Leopard 2 tanks and American-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles—will take place.
Observers have speculated that a southern drive through the Zaporizhzhia front towards occupied Melitopol could sever Moscow's land bridge to Crimea, while others have suggested that Kyiv may opt to push deeper into the northeastern Luhansk region.
Ukrainian leaders have tried to ease expectations while sending mixed messages about their readiness, perhaps as part of a disinformation operation to confuse Russian forces. Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, for example, said at the end of April that the attacking troops were ready. But President Volodymyr Zelensky recently said that Kyiv needed more time.
Ukraine's foreign partners have also warned against staking too much on the coming operation. Pavel has previously warned against "a temptation to push them" to "demonstrate some results," while also stressing how pivotal the counterattack could be.
"It will be extremely harmful to Ukraine if this counteroffensive fails, because they will not have another chance, at least not this year," he added. Kyiv, Pavel said, will likely take "terrible losses" on the offense.
"It's extremely demanding in terms of putting together personnel equipment, ammunition logistics, fuel financing. It will simply be one chance this year, so it has to be successful."
But Pavel has also said Kyiv has a good chance of success. "There is certainly high hope that the Ukrainian counteroffensive will be successful, because Ukraine is motivated, well prepared, its troops are experienced and certainly do not succumb to such deficiencies as the Russian army," the president said on Friday.
"Things do not always go according to wishes and plans but I think that the chance for a significant Ukrainian success is really high."
No comments:
Post a Comment