Opinion: Donnacha Ó Beacháin says Ukraine will be keeping its cards close to its chest around any counteroffensive, and with good reason...
VLADIMIR PUTIN HAS wagered everything on winning the war he refuses to call a war.
Once that perception is shattered – and nothing does that more effectively than defeat in war – all bets are off. Before launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, Putin could predict with some confidence his future trajectory. Nothing is certain now. The battle for Bakhmut The real battle is taking place not in the capital cities, but in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, four large regions that Putin now claims as Russian territory.
The coming counteroffensive For months, the Ukrainians have built up stockpiles of ammunition and trained their soldiers to use donated weaponry in preparation for a major counteroffensive. The country’s commander-in-chief, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, recently hinted at the forthcoming liberation campaign when he released a video entitled “the time has come to take back what’s ours”.
What’s at stake At the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, governments around the world assumed Ukraine would be quickly defeated and ordered their embassy staff to vacate Kyiv. Volodymyr Zelenskyy spurned the US offer to be evacuated, famously saying he needed ammunition, not a ride. Instead, he walked the streets of central Kyiv reassuring his people that he had not deserted them.
Now the president encourages Ukrainians by advertising his many meetings with allies around the world. During the last month alone, Zelenskyy has visited several European capitals as well as participated in the G7 summit in Japan.
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