Retired American General Hodges believes that the Ukrainian Armed Forces should seize the Donbass after the Crimea In 2023, the Armed Forces of Ukraine should seize the Crimea, and then the Donbass, said the former head of the US ground forces in Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.
According to him, if the West provides Kiev with weapons, including long-range missiles, then Crimea will become Ukrainian "by the end of summer." The Verkhovna Rada believes that the Armed Forces of Ukraine can launch a counteroffensive on Melitopol and Berdyansk.
The former commander of the US ground forces in Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, said that this year Kiev "must" return Crimea and Donbass. His words are reported by Euractiv.
According to him, the Ukrainian army can seize Crimea if Western states supply the Armed Forces with all the necessary weapons, especially long-range precision missiles. In this case, the Ukrainian military will allegedly be able to recapture Crimea from Russia "by the end of summer."
US President Joe Biden had recently stated that Washington reserves the right for Kiev to decide where to put an end to the conflict with Russia, and they believe that the return of Crimea to Ukraine "immediately" is not predetermined at all.
"I can imagine the circumstances under which this [the transition of Crimea to the control of Ukraine] will be preceded by a transitional period. Not all at once," Biden said.
The Kremlin has repeatedly stressed that Crimea is an integral part of Russia, which under no circumstances will return to Ukraine.
Hitting the corridor
Verkhovna Rada deputy, secretary of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security Roman Kostenko told RBC Ukraine that Ukrainian troops could probably launch a counteroffensive in the direction of Berdyansk and Melitopol.
According to him, during the spring campaign it will become clear whether Kiev will have the opportunity for such an offensive. "After we understand how the enemy will act," Kostenko added.
Now, the APU should focus on the eastern direction, on the battles in the Donbass.
"What I see is that we need to stop the enemy now, who is putting pressure on us, because we are now talking all about a counteroffensive, while the enemy is slowly pushing us back in the eastern direction, has an advantage in numbers, in the number of equipment, pushes our soldiers away," the Ukrainian parliamentarian said.
On February 25, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said during a press conference that the country's leadership was preparing to seize Crimea.
"There are military steps, we are preparing for them. We are mentally ready. We are preparing technically, with weapons, reinforcement, formation of brigades, formation of offensive brigades of different categories and of different nature, we send people for training, not only in Ukraine, you know, at the sites of other states," the Ukrainian head said.
The German newspaper Bild soon published an article with the opinion of sources that Western countries may require Kiev to negotiate with Moscow in case of failure of the announced counteroffensive in 2023.
At the same time, the deputy head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Vadim Skibitsii, in an interview with the German media group Funke, said that the AFU would be ready for a counteroffensive in the southern direction in the spring.
The main purpose of the operation, according to Skibitsky, is to "drive a wedge" between Crimea and mainland Russia. The Ukrainian Armed Forces want to strike in the Ugledar and Melitopol directions in order to cut off the part of the Kherson region controlled by Russia, as well as to be able to strike at the Crimean Bridge - and thereby limit supplies to the peninsula.Peter Nikolaev
