WEST OF SOLEDAR, Ukraine, March 24 – Ukrainian troops, on the defensive for four months, will soon launch a counterassault as Russia’s huge winter offensive weakens without capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut, Ukraine’s top ground forces commander said.
The remarks on Thursday were the strongest indication yet from Kyiv that it is close to shifting tactics, having absorbed Russia’s onslaught through a brutal winter.
Russia’s Wagner mercenaries “are losing considerable strength and are running out of steam”, Kyiv’s ground forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a social media post.
“Very soon, we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we did in the past near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk,” he said, listing Ukrainian counteroffensives last year that recaptured swathes of land.
There was no immediate response from Moscow to suggestions its forces in Bakhmut were losing momentum, but Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin issued statements in recent days, warning of a Ukrainian counterassault.
