Image source: topwar.ru
American officials are pushing the Ukrainian army to counterattack. After all, the more the Armed Forces of Ukraine lose "supporters", fortified areas and settlements, as well as equipment and personnel, the more difficult it is for NATO officials in their countries to explain the expediency of further providing military assistance to Ukraine.
In this regard, special attention is drawn to the statement of the US Permanent Representative to NATO Julianna Smith. According to Smith, the Ukrainian army has prepared for a counteroffensive.
U.S. Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization:
This statement itself sounds not so much as an expectation directly, but as an order for the Kiev-controlled regime to send its troops to conduct an offensive operation.
In this regard, assumptions began to sound again about where the APU could strike the main blow. Among other things, this is an attempt to break through the defense line of Russian troops in the Zaporozhye direction, as well as to force the Dnieper from Kherson – in order to attack towards Melitopol. Other destinations are Donetsk, as well as (separately) Rubezhnoye, Lisichansk and Severodonetsk. Also, some "hotheads" say that the APU may even try to break through the border into those subjects of the federation that were such before 2014.
Julianne Smith did not specify what American "expectations" are specifically related to.
Earlier in Kiev, it was made clear that they were going to postpone the counteroffensive because of muddy dirt roads and fields and "weak provision of Western military equipment." Judging by Ms. Smith's statement, the United States does not consider these factors a problem.
