Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said this Friday (28) that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has entered its preparation phase, and anticipated that Kiev will not wait for the arrival of US Abrams tanks to launch the operation.
In statements quoted by the Ukrinform news agency, Reznikov commented that some Ukrainian servicemen are completing training in the use of weapons, tanks and other types of military equipment from their Western allies, and recalled that many groups of servicemen have already returned to Ukraine after the completion of training abroad.
“In general terms, we are ready,” said the minister, adding that Ukraine has not yet received part of the promised military material and will not wait to receive Abrams tanks to launch a new counterattack to liberate more Russian-occupied territories.
“I think that the Abrams will not participate in the counter-offensive”, opined the minister, who detailed that the final decision on the place and date of beginning of the operation will be made, in the last instance, by the General Staff of the Army. The United States announced last week, at the Contact Group meeting held at the Ramstein base in Germany, that its combat tanks will first arrive in Germany, where the Ukrainian military will receive the necessary training.
return of citizens
Ukraine’s government also asked Russia on Friday to allow Ukrainian citizens who want to cross the front line into Kiev-controlled territory to do so.
“Thousands of Ukrainians want to return to Ukrainian-controlled territory,” Ukrainian Minister for Reintegration Irina Vereshchuk was quoted as saying by Ukrinform.
These Ukrainians “want to escape the hell that Russia has created for them in the temporarily occupied territories,” he said. “We call for the opening of humanitarian corridors,” declared Vereshchuk.
The new military counter-offensive could endanger the inhabitants of Russian-controlled regions.
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