7 Apr, 2023 14:45
Blinken predicts start of Ukrainian counteroffensive
The US secretary of state has suggested Kiev could attempt to retake former territories in the next few weeks
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken © Getty Images / Darrian Traynor
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has suggested that Ukraine will likely launch a long-anticipated counteroffensive in the next few weeks. Speaking to the Funke Media Group on Friday, the diplomat claimed that any decision to start the operation, which could include attempts to retake Crimea, must ultimately be made by Kiev.
Crimea rejoined Russia in 2014, when residents overwhelmingly voted in favor of the move in a referendum held shortly after the Maidan coup in Kiev.
Blinken stated in the interview that there are “two goals for Ukraine’s many friends and partners” in the current conflict with Russia. The first aim is helping Kiev win back territories, which means assisting in a counteroffensive, the diplomat argued.
The second goal, according to the secretary of state, is supporting Ukraine in building up its medium- and long-term capacities to deter Russia and to allow Kiev to defend itself from any future attack.
In response, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday that the Russian military will take Blinken’s comments into account when planning its own moves in the conflict.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba pointed out last week that Kiev is concerned that the planned advance would not result in Russia being “100%” pushed out of the territories that Ukraine intends to reclaim. He urged Kiev’s Western backers not to treat the counteroffensive as a make-or-break moment, and called on them to maintain their support regardless of its outcome.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov stated that beginning from April or May, Kiev’s forces will use newly supplied Western hardware, including German Leopard tanks, to attack Russian-held areas.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has insisted that Ukrainian talk of a large-scale spring offensive that would also target Crimea is merely “propaganda.” However, Medvedev did warn that if the peninsula came under attack, Russia would be justified in using “all means of protection,” including nuclear weapons
Comments
1.The Generals will tell the politicians what they want to hear and the politicians will say what they want to happen. That is a truism for most if not all militaries around the world. Problem is that as the troops and equipment mass behind the lines it makes for a good target.
The US generals haven't fought a war where the troops are within range of the opposition at all times and they do not have air cover. They are used to fighting battles against an opposition that doesn't have similar or any capabilities as the US military. To keep the U-Karen conscripts out of range they are going to have to be housed across the Polish border.
Lil-Z is going to house his troops in as many civilian buildings as possible and use as many human shields as possible. He knows that he has to win the unwinnable war of attrition with Russia. Russia has more troops and more weapons. So far the west hasn't officially provided troops and isn't likely to. The however to that (according to reports), is Poland and Romania, possibly Hungary too, with their historic territorial asperations.
2. So, this seems like a signal to start the offensive rather than a prediction. But then again, when anglos speak, you have to assume they are lying. Same thing goes for jouze.
3. Any attempts made to retake Crimea could end up USA getting vaporized before them idiots can detect the submarines and missiles rushing at them from the Pacific and the Atlantic
4. The thing to notice is the staggering amount of lying coming out of the judeo-West. putin has cancer. putin has champlies. putin has toenail fungus. russia’s economy is dead. russia cant sell oil. russia doesnt have enough men, they dont have enough training. ukraine is about to do a counteroffensive and take crimea. on and on and on
5. What does Ukraine have that they didn't have before? They have less experienced fighters, no air power and "new" equipment that they have little training with. They're a inferior force mounting an offensive against a superior force that is in a superior position defending.
6. If they use long range weapons, all bets are off, the Russian forces will respond in kind. Russia can withdraw to a second line of defence and chew them up. It's like the West is planning a severe defeat for Ukraine so that this conflict can move towards an end.
Ukraine has already lost about 90% of its industrial and most productive regions of the country. Next, they will lose access to the Black Sea and be entirely landlocked. for what? For who? They can thank the U.S. Government, London and Tel-Aviv, the global Axis of Evil for what's happened to them
7. "In response, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday that the Russian military will take Blinken’s comments into account when planning its own moves in the conflict."
8. When people like Blinken, Biden and many others speak, what are we supposed to gleam from them knowing that they tell so many lies and always have an agenda to make us believe that what they are telling us is truth?.. No doubt they have a reason in making this "prediction" but it could be completely without substance!..