Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov claimed that his country is amassing a million-strong fighting force to retake the southern regions of Ukraine.
The planned counteroffensive, equipped with Western weapons, was ordered by President Volodymyr Zelensky to retake Ukraine’s coastal regions due to their vitality to the country’s economy, Reznikov said in an exclusive interview with the Times of London.
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“We understand that, politically, it’s very necessary for our country. The president has given the order to the supreme military chief to draw up plans. After that the general staff are doing their homework and say to achieve this goal we need XYZ,” he said. “This is my job. I’m writing letters to counterparts in partner countries.”
The claim has drawn skepticism.
“There is no indication that the Ukrainians have either the troops or the war materiel to conduct such an offensive at this time,” Tyler Weaver, an author, military analyst, and former Army officer, told the Washington Examiner. “They are currently struggling to adequately supply, equip, and man the forces defending their front line, which amount to something less than half the size of this ‘counteroffensive force.’ The Western aid and new recruits that could form such a force (albeit not on the scale advertised) have been universally sent to the front line to plug holes instead.”
Zelensky claimed that Ukraine had 700,000 soldiers in total in a televised address in late May, according to Euronews. Other analysts last month believed the true number was closer to 500,000, speaking to the Guardian.
The BBC speculated the announcement was “more of a rallying cry than a concrete plan for a counter offensive.”
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Ukraine’s coastal region of Kherson, captured in the early days of the war, controls the canal that supplies fresh water to Crimea, making it strategically vital.
Russia has previously signaled that it intends to stay in the area. “Russia is here forever. There should be no doubt about this. There will be no return to the past,” Andrey Turchak, a senior politician in President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, said in May.
