Ukraine’s fall offensive will be predominantly infantry-based, Budanov says
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Ukraine’s counter-offensive will be predominantly infantry-based in the fall, the head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate or HUR, Kyrylo Budanov, said at the Annual meeting of the Yalta European Strategy, which was held in Kyiv on Sept. 8-9.
"This is not Africa, we don’t have a rainy season (in Ukraine),” Budanov said in answer to a question about the Ukrainian offensive. He added that Ukrainian forces might have problems with wheeled vehicles.
“There are weather changes that have an impact, because it is more difficult to fight in the cold and mud. But let's look at the autumn of last year, when no one stopped fighting.”
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In any case, the effectiveness of all types of armored vehicles has decreased due to the large number of portable anti-tank systems and kamikaze drones, Budanov said.
“Therefore, our offensive is mainly conducted on foot. It was the same last autumn in Bakhmut; we used minimal armored vehicle support,” he said.
Ukrainian counteroffensive – Latest
Earlier, U.S. newspaper the New York Times reported that a new phase of Ukraine's counter-offensive has begun, with the main thrust coming from the southeast, where Ukrainian soldiers are gradually advancing through minefields while under attack by Russian aircraft.
U.S. newspaper the Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed U.S. official, earlier reported that Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, while commenting on criticism of the"slow pace" of the counter-offensive, told U.S. officials that Ukrainian forces were on the verge of a breakthrough.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense officially confirmed on Aug. 28 the liberation of the village of Robotyne village in Zaporizhzhya Oblast. Now the Ukrainian troops are moving further towards Novoprokopivka, Ocheretuvate, and have been successful near Verbove.
In early September, the commander of theTavria operational and strategic grouping of troops, Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had broken through the first line of Russian defense on the southern section of the front line.
Ukrainian forces have liberated part of the village of Opytne south of the front-line town of Avdiyivka in Donetsk Oblast, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Sept. 11.
This year’s Yalta European Strategy meeting was titled "The Future Is Being Decided in Ukraine." The event, was organized in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.
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