Ukraine may be gearing up for a new all-out counteroffensive

A Ukrainian soldier fires a self-propelled gun at Russian forces near Kherson (Photo: Reuters).

Germany's Welt newspaper quoted an expert as saying that Ukraine may be regrouping its forces with the aim of launching a new counterattack in 2024 after attacks since June failed to penetrate all layers of Russian defense.

Nico Lange, a former German defense official who is now a senior fellow at the Munich Security Conference, said that despite growing pessimism in the West about Ukraine's progress on the battlefield, Kiev still has a sizable amount of military equipment from the West and several new shipments of weapons are expected to arrive in the near future.

“Ukraine may be preparing resources for a new counteroffensive next year,” the expert suggested, adding that Kiev could launch a new offensive in the Kherson region.

In addition, German experts believe that Ukraine still has big plans, as shown by the "ambitious" list of weapons that Kiev requested the US to provide, including attack helicopters, advanced fighter jets, long-range missile systems, Abrams tanks and other equipment.

Bild magazine (Germany) previously quoted sources saying that Ukraine is drawing up a "new battle plan". The source said that Ukraine's main goal in this plan is to focus on causing maximum damage to Moscow.

"Our goal is to achieve as high a kill rate as possible for enemy soldiers," an unnamed officer told Bild.

This person said that if Moscow's losses were 10:1 (that is, Russia lost 10 soldiers, Ukraine lost 1), Kiev would be able to advance. Meanwhile, if the ratio was 1:1, it would be disadvantageous for Ukraine.

Ukraine launched a counter-offensive in early June but failed to make any significant advances despite being reinforced with large amounts of Western equipment.

Months after the attack, even top Ukrainian officials, including Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, began to admit that they had failed to achieve their goals.

In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin estimated the loss ratio at 8-to-1 in Moscow's favor, and earlier this month, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu claimed that Kiev had lost more than 125,000 soldiers since the start of the summer.

It is difficult to accurately verify the information provided by the parties because the parties often tend to give numbers that are unfavorable to the opponent to serve psychological warfare tactics.

Speculation that Ukraine might expand its offensive efforts in Kherson has been circulating for some time.

Ukraine has held a bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnieper River controlled by Russia since October. Although holding this bridgehead carries a series of risks, Ukraine is determined to hold out until the end in the face of relentless Russian attacks.

An unnamed Ukrainian soldier told the BBC that Kiev's forces stationed on the left bank of the Dnieper River were facing a series of difficulties in maintaining their gains after a long period of fighting across the river.

According to anonymous soldiers, Ukraine is facing a serious shortage of both manpower and weapons and equipment to protect these positions, while soldiers fighting here are facing a "rain" of fire from Russia.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/ukraine-co-the-dang-len-day-cot-cho-chien-dich-phan-cong-tong-luc-moi-20231217104618422.htm