‘In 2024, Ukrainian Armed Forces Will Perform A Proper Offensive’
- 29.12.2023, 13:30
A military expert revealed the details.
Military expert Mikhaylo Samus spoke on Euroradio about why the Ukrainian counter-offensive failed, as well as about the threats from the Lukashenka regime of Belarus.
— We have hoped for the counteroffensive, and we still do. Ukraine is preparing a new offensive operation for 2024. We need to liberate our lands, and first of all we need to liberate the South.
The center of gravity, as the military says, is the Crimea. In order to start the de-occupation of the Crimea, we need to liberate or at least break into the territory lying before it. This means that in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions it will be necessary to carry out the operations that they hoped to carry out this year,” said Mikhaylo Samus.
In 2023, the expert adds, it was not possible to achieve the planned results for several reasons:
— The first is the supply of weapons. Some weapons were not supplied at all, for example, fighter jets. And if you look at modern doctrines, air superiority is the first point. That is, all the doctrines told us that such an operation cannot be carried out without an advantage in the air.
But the Ukrainian army tried, and good results were shown, although the enemy used thousands of aerial bombs. That is, we have proven that statuses and doctrines are written in blood — and this is true. And without an advantage in the air, such operations should not be carried out.
Now they are reporting that in a few days the F-16s will be delivered, and we will finally be able to resist Russian aviation. That is, in 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces will conduct offensive operations as they should.
In addition, according to Samus, not all the armored vehicles promised by the partners were actually delivered to Ukraine.
— I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that the counteroffensive began on June 7, and on June 6 the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station was blown up. A large area was flooded, including a bridgehead that the Ukrainian army could have organized on the left bank of the Kherson region, and there are 85 km from the Dnipro to the Crimea. As far as I understand, the Russians knew of the plan and blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station.
Mikhaylo Samus also said that in 2023 the level of threat to Ukraine from the territory of Belarus has not changed much.
— Now there is talk about building stationary concrete fortifications along the entire length of the border with Belarus in order to completely exclude any possibility of an attack against Ukraine. That is, steps are being intensified on the Ukrainian side in terms of strengthening defense lines.
At the same time, Lukashenka’s position was unchanged — he remains a full ally of Putin, so Ukraine needs to maintain the same level of vigilance in this direction, and these are hundreds of kilometers that need to be provided with high-quality defense.