The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) will not announce the start of a counteroffensive, this information is classified, Ukrainian defenders are carrying out assault actions at the front, and these are also counteroffensive operations, Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Maliar has said.
“It is important to realize that there won’t be such a day when the Armed Forces announce, ‘We are starting the counteroffensive tomorrow’. It is impossible in wartime as this information is classified. These are the plans of the Armed Forces we have no right to discuss in public, the servicemen themselves do not discuss them as well. At the same time, a counteroffensive should not be reduced in public just to active offensive operations,” she said on the air of the national telethon on Wednesday.
Maliar emphasized that it is incorrect to discuss the counteroffensive narrowly.
“It is a wide range of various actions and measures that are being taken by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. First of all, these are preparations of the personnel for a range of actions – defensive and offensive. However, when we speak generally about our strategic goal, we can call them measures for counteroffensive operations,” she said.
In particular, these measures include the preparation of equipment and personnel, including the reservists, as well as developing the tactics for plans A, B, and C.
“Since there cannot be only one scenario, because the enemy also responds to it, we must understand that such decisions are made in a very short time, and not in a month or two or half a year. And the final plan is selected in a way to make it impossible for the enemy to react,” she said.
The AFU are not preparing for specific “narrow actions” in a specific direction. They are constantly preparing day by day for full liberation of the occupied territories, which requires a wide range of actions, Maliar said.
“And the things that are going on today, for example, in Bakhmut, include assault actions by our forces, and not only in the Bakhmut direction. Today our forces successfully stop the enemy in the other direction. The enemy offensives are taking place in four main directions: Bakhmut, Maryinka, Avdiyivka, and Lyman. Our AFU conduct active assault operations there, and these are also counteroffensive actions,” the deputy defense minister said.