Ukraine set a date for its counteroffensive on Wednesday, the beginning of spring, after the arrival this week of the first batch of German and British tanks, while Russian troops appear to have retaken the initiative in Donbas.
"It depends on the weather conditions. In spring the ground is very wet. Only tracked vehicles can be used. I think we will see (the counteroffensive) in April-May," Oleksii Reznikov, Ukrainian Defense Minister, told the media. Estonians.
Just a few days ago, the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, assured that the counteroffensive will not be possible until kyiv receives the necessary weapons and ammunition so as not to send the soldiers to certain death.
Reznikov explained that the General Staff is waiting for the "right moment" and that the counterattack will take place in various sectors of the front, without specifying.
"I am confident that we will continue to liberate the occupied territories, as we have already done in Kiev, Chernígov, Sumy, Kharkov and Jerson," he said.
The minister, who predicted "very positive changes for Ukraine" this year, today boarded one of the German-supplied Marder tanks, which also shipped the first batch of 18 Leopard-2s on Monday.
On Tuesday it was the turn of the British Challengers and today, Wednesday, the Spanish Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, announced that Madrid will send six Leopards to kyiv once they are repaired.
Regarding the European promises of a million shells, Reznikov admitted that the Ukrainian army needs more ammunition if it wants to recover territories, although he specified that Kiev spends between 4,000 and 7,000 shells a day, while Moscow, about 20,000.
Meanwhile, at the front, after a couple of weeks of stalemate, the mercenaries of the Wagner Group seemed to intensify their assault operations on the Bakhmut stronghold in the Donetsk region again.
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the Wagners may have taken the AZOM metallurgical complex, whose tunnels served as a trench for nine months for Ukrainian soldiers, thus controlling 65% of the city, and now they would be dedicating themselves to clearing the area of enemies.
If the Russian military bloggers even talk about the seizure of the market and positions near the Palace of Culture in the center of the city, the official media specified that the fighting has now moved to the industrial estates south of AZOM.
Be that as it may, Zelensky refuses to hand over the city, which has become the symbol of resistance to the occupation.
In statements to the US press, he assured on Wednesday that if Russian President Vladimir Putin feels for a moment that kyiv is weak, he will attack with all his might.
Along the same lines, Reznikov assured that the Ukrainian defenders "reduced the Russian offensive potential", which helps the Ukrainian troops "to stabilize the front line and buy time to prepare the counteroffensive".
Wagner's boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, acknowledged today the high cost in human lives of the fierce fighting.
"The battle for Bakhmut has practically destroyed the Ukrainian army and unfortunately left the Wagners quite battered," he was quoted as saying by his press service.
Reznikov replied: "They too are tired. They have suffered heavy losses, many killed and wounded. Usually they lose no less than five hundred soldiers a day."
The Ukrainian army's dilemma now is what to do with the town of Avdiivka, on the outskirts of Donetsk, where Russian forces are also trying to encircle the town.
Losing Avdiivka would be an even bigger setback than losing the battle for Bakhmut, as it would clear the way for Russian troops in central Donetsk, according to the ISW.
In turn, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, on Wednesday inspected the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, under Russian control for a year.
He admitted that the creation of a security zone is no longer on the agenda. "We are developing a concept to protect the plant more locally," she told the media.
The situation of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe "is not improving, but on the contrary, the hostilities around the site are intensifying," he stressed.
Grossi assured that he is trying to "propose realistic measures that can be accepted by all parties."
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