Ukrainian soldiers fire mortars at a front line, near Bakhmut, Donetsk, in this handout released November 6, 2022. Photo/REUTERS
The reminder was expressed by Leonid Reshetnikov, a veteran Russian foreign intelligence official, to Sputnik.
With Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine underway, Ukrainian Army commander Alexander Syrsky claimed Kiev could soon launch a counteroffensive on the city of Artemovsk where heavy fighting shows no sign of abating.
He wrote on his Telegram channel that, “His troops will seize this opportunity soon.”
“Of course, they (Ukrainian troops) would not give up on Bakhmut, so they kept fighting. The only way to hold a more or less successful counteroffensive is to stop the advance of our troops,” said Reshetnikov, who is also a retired lieutenant general and PhD in history.
He added that Ukrainian troops had resisted for quite a while, but their efforts had run out as many of Ukraine’s weapons delivery routes and garrisons had been cut or attacked.
“Therefore, they are preparing for a counterattack, first of all on the flanks, to bypass the emerging pincers and the siege of Bakhmut by the Russian troops,” said the retired general.
According to Reshetnikov, “There are already signs that such a counteroffensive has practically begun, given the attempts of Ukrainian troops to suppress our forces on the flanks.”
