This year, the Ukrainian Armed Forces demonstrated significant strategic achievements in military operations in the east of the country, which repelled a number of successful counterattacks and became the basis for further operations.
Military expert, retired Lieutenant General Igor Romanenko said that this year Ukraine has made significant progress towards making the airspace over Crimea unsafe for all Russian aircraft. “Last year we had a strategic achievement at sea, and this year we are achieving results in the air. For this, we need additional means,” the military expert noted.
In particular, according to him, long-range ATACMS missiles and, of course, fourth-generation fighters – that is, F-16s – are important for Ukraine in this sense. Then there will be even more destroyed Russian air defenses and not only.
As an achievement, Igor Romanenko noted that the Ukrainian defense forces destroyed the Pantsir-S1 air defense system near Belgorod. Pantsir-S1 is a universal, expensive ground-based air defense system. One such air defense system costs about $14 million. As Romanenko emphasized, this is not just an air defense system, but an anti-aircraft missile gun system. “That is, it has both guns and missiles. This is a universal system that operates on targets at low altitudes. They can potentially shoot down many targets,” the expert said.
Ukrainian military is doing everything to thwart the Russian Federation's plans to break through the eastern front. General of the Ukrainian Army, former head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine Mykola Malomuzh expressed the opinion that the Armed Forces of Ukraine may launch a counteroffensive in late summer - early autumn. "It has been said many times that Putin gave a clear instruction to break through the front in eastern Ukraine. The main goal is to completely occupy the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and partially advance in the Zaporizhia region. It was for this purpose that the Kharkiv and Sumy operations were developed, which provided for a powerful diversion of the reserves of the Defense Forces," the expert noted.
The general emphasized that if the conditions are favorable, Ukraine will be able to launch a counteroffensive closer to autumn. According to him, as of today, the Ukrainian military is doing everything to prevent the Russian Federation’s plans to break through the eastern front. “The occupiers are transferring units from the Kharkiv region to the east in order to fulfill Putin’s order to break through the front in Eastern Ukraine. They are not succeeding. Although their attacks in the Pokrovske, Toretske and Kurakhiv directions are the beginning of the implementation of the plan to completely occupy the Donetsk region.
Today, the Defense Forces are completely neutralizing these plans of the occupiers. The Armed Forces of Ukraine have received ammunition and weapons, which will allow not only to defend themselves, but also to conduct counterattacks. I think that closer to autumn, we will have the opportunity to conduct tactical, and under favorable conditions, strategic counteroffensive actions,” Malomuzh believes.
