Deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, Vadym Skibizkyj, expects his army to launch a counteroffensive against Russian occupation forces this spring. “I think we’re ready for a spring counter-offensive,” Skibizkyj told the Funke media group’s newspapers (Online Sunday/Print Monday). However, the exact time depends on several factors – such as the delivery of Western weapons, which are very important for the attacked country.
Skibizkyj stressed that Ukraine’s goal is the liberation of all of its territory – including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. “We will not stop until we get our country back to its 1991 borders. our message to Russia and the international community.”
He also said: “It is one of our strategic military objectives to try to create a barrier on the Russian front in the south – between Crimea and the Russian mainland.” The secret service agent also did not rule out attacks on weapons depots in areas close to the Russian border: “It is possible that we will also destroy weapons depots or military equipment on Russian territory, for example around the city of Belgorod. Attacks on Ukraine will be launched from there. That’s about a threat to Kharkiv.”
According to the Ukrainian military intelligence service, Russia currently does not have weapons from China. “According to our information, Russia currently does not have weapons and ammunition from China,” Skibizkyj said. Russia has been negotiating arms supplies with many countries “for a long time”, including China, Iran, North Korea and former Soviet republics, he added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a week ago that Washington was concerned “based on the information we have” that China was considering “providing lethal support” to Moscow in the Ukraine war. However, Beijing subsequently denied plans to supply Russia with weapons for the war against Ukraine.
Skibizkyj told Funke-Blätter that one of Russia’s weaknesses is that it cannot keep up with the production of ammunition, artillery and new weapons – especially missile systems. In the first six months of the war, Ukrainian troops destroyed 60% of Russian main battle tanks and 40% of armored vehicles. “That’s why the Russians have problems with supplies today,” the deputy head of the intelligence service stressed.
Russia is currently negotiating with Iran over the delivery of medium-range missiles, Skibizkyj said. Moscow is also trying to get ammunition from Tehran.
According to the state news agency BeITA, there are more than a million volunteer soldiers outside the army in Belarus. If the country “proclaimed martial law and switched the economy to war mode”, up to 1.5 million people could be summoned, quoted the agency Alexander Wolfowitsch, Secretary of State for the Security Council. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko earlier this month ordered the formation of a new so-called territorial defense force made up of volunteers. According to the president, volunteers and professional soldiers should only fight in the event of an attack.
Russia has been openly at war with neighboring Ukraine since February 24, 2022. Since then, at least 8,000 civilians have been killed and over 13,000 wounded in the fighting. Overall, Russian troops currently occupy about 20% of Ukrainian territory.