Follow our live blog about the war in Ukraine here
ProRussian officials in Lugansk have warned that Ukraine could launch the announced counteroffensive on May 9, when Russia celebrates the day of victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.
“Favourable weather conditions are expected this weekend, which will allow the Ukrainian armed forces to make full use of the equipment and weapons provided by the NATO countries,” a representative of the proRussian authorities said in Lugansk on Tuesday.
Andrei Marochko told the Russian news agency TASS that “the enemy will try to overshadow the celebration of Victory Day.” Russia Celebrates Victory in “Great Patriotic War” of the then Soviet Union against the forces of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime on May 9th.
PUB • READ MORE FOLLOWING
Prigozhin admits “Russian tragedy”. truth or strategy?
Marochko said Ukrainian forces are assembling weapons and equipment and forming strike groups for “largescale counteroffensives.”
“Therefore, there is a high probability that by the end of this week and early next Ukraine will resume the active phase of offensive actions,” he told TASS, quoted by Spanish agency EFE.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Friday that preparations for Ukraine’s counteroffensive had entered the final stages.
“Basically we are ready”Reznikov told Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform.
Lugansk is one of four regions annexed by Moscow in September 2022, seven months after invading Ukraine, along with Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporiyah.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Ukraine and the international community in general do not recognize Russian sovereignty in the annexed regions. Kyiv calls for the evacuation of the annexed territories, including Crimea, as one of the prerequisites for eventual peace talks.
BRICS without the R for Russia. Zelenskyy wants to win over Putin’s four allies, but still has a long way to go
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 plunged Europe into the worst security crisis since World War II (19391945).
Ukraine’s western allies have been supplying Ukraine with weapons to fight Russian forces and have imposed economic sanctions on Moscow in an attempt to hamper Russia’s financing of the war.
The number of civilian and military casualties in the war is unknown, but several sources, including the UN, have admitted it will be significant.