News
Ukraine war
March 23, 2023 | 3:28 p.m
Ukraine’s military will launch a much-anticipated counterattack “very soon,” a top commander said Thursday — as Russia loses momentum in Bakhmut.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, indicated that a counter-offensive would soon hit the exhausted Russian forces at Bakhmut.
Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries “are significantly losing strength and running out of breath,” Syrskyi said on social media.
“Very soon we will seize this opportunity, as we have done in the past near Kiev, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk,” he said.
Over the past year, Ukraine launched counter-offensives in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kalaklya and Kupyansk, which eventually became major turning points in the war and recaptured significant lands from Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers fire a D-30 howitzer at Russian positions near Bakhmut. AFP via Getty Images
Despite dwindling forces, Russia does not appear to have been deterred, Syrskyi noted.
“The attacker is by no means giving up hope of taking Bakhmut, regardless of the loss of manpower or equipment,” he said.
Syrskyi explained that Ukrainian troops, even when under constant fire from Russian artillery, continue to demonstrate “superhuman resilience, courage and bravery,” Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, said via Getty Images that a counter-offensive would soon hit Russian forces in Bakhmut. AFP
In a Ukrainian-occupied village on the northern outskirts of Bakhmut, the strength of Russian forces had declined significantly.
“A week ago it was very hot here, but the last three days it’s been quieter,” a Ukrainian soldier told Portal.
Russia’s weakened attack on Bakhmut, once a focus of the Moscow offensive, could also be due to troops and resources being sent to other areas.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited troops and shared a video telling residents: “We will restore everything, we will rebuild everything. Just like every town and village that has suffered.”ARSEN DZODZAIEV/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this week visited troops defending Bakhmut before touring the frontline provinces in the Kherson region on Thursday.
He shared a video of him meeting residents of the war-torn village of Posad Pokrovske on the former Kherson front line, promising residents they would rebuild it soon.
“We will restore everything, we will rebuild everything. Just like every town and village that suffered under the occupiers,” he wrote.
The news of Ukraine’s counterattack comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted his “dear friend,” Chinese President Xi Jinping, in Moscow this week.
The communist leader was criticized for trying to appear as a peacemaker while barely mentioning the war in Ukraine during their three-day meeting.
After Xi left Moscow on Wednesday, Putin sent drones over northern Ukraine and blew up a block of flats in Zaporizhia with rockets, killing at least one person.
At least nine people were killed in the airstrikes as of Thursday.
Load More…
{{#isDisplay}} {{/isDisplay}}{{#isAniviewVideo}} {{/isAniviewVideo}}{{#isSRVideo}} {{/isSRVideo}}
https://nypost.com/2023/03/23/ukraine-plans-counter-offense-on-russian-troops-in-bakhmut/?utm_source=url_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons
Copy the URL to share