Ukrainian military expert: Main events expected at end of spring

The counter-offensive operations will start in the second half of April, Ukrainian military expert Maksym Yali told Report.

According to him, the main events are expected to take place at the end of spring and the beginning of summer.

"Unfortunately, we have yet to receive enough weapons. The delivery of the first tanks has just started. Poland has already delivered the promised tanks, and Germany may provide them by the end of March. Supplies from other countries are also expected. Poland also said to provide 60 modernized tanks. It takes at least one month for these weapons to arrive."

Yali said that the success of counter-offensive operations would depend on the amount of weapons that will be delivered to Ukraine: "As for the possibility of completely liberating our territories in 2023, there are optimistic scenarios that involve providing us with long-range systems, primarily ATACMS missiles. We need this to destroy enemy logistics and implement a successful attack scenario. The same scenario was implemented in Kherson. So, since the supply routes were closed, the Russians had to leave the city without a fight. We must prevent supplies from Crimea, for which the city of Melitopol must be liberated. As for Mariupol, there is another supply line by rail through Volnovakha. It is 80 km from there to Mariupol. This is our optimistic scenario. However, the US, our leading supplier and partner, estimates that the assistance should be enough until the end of the summer. The situation will be determined by the beginning of summer. Either we will liberate all our occupied territories, including Crimea, as Budanov, Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, said, or both sides will run out of resources. This was also the case when we liberated the Kharkiv region, including the city of Kherson, as a result of a successful counter-offensive operation. Since our resources have run out since that time, we are trying to gather strength and defend ourselves. This happened for several months in the summer of last year. The scenarios are repeating themselves, everything will depend on the extent to which our partners in the West keep their promises. The same happened with the tanks. First, a promise was made, and then they began to claim that they did not have the means to fulfill it. Unfortunately, such cases also happen. Therefore, in the present case, it makes no sense to forecast beyond the summer's end. At that time, the situation will become clearer - either there will be an opportunity for negotiations, or we will continue to gather strength for future counter-attacks."