Russian Official Says Ukraine Counteroffensive Will Target These Areas

Denis Pushilin, the acting head of Moscow's puppet Donetsk People's Republic, has said that the looming Ukrainian spring counteroffensive will likely press Russian positions at several key points of the 800-mile front seeking a breakthrough that could turn the tide of the war.

Pushilin told Russia's Channel One that Moscow was expecting a Ukrainian counterattack, one that will not be confined to one or two locations.

"I think that if they attempt to carry out a counteroffensive—and it's quite possible that they will be forced to do so—attacks will take place in several areas," Pushilin said, as quoted by the state-run Tass news agency on Thursday.

Pushilin told Channel One that he was sure that the southern front would be a key site of Ukrainian operations. "The Zaporizhzhia frontline will definitely be one of them," he said. As to attacks on the southern cities of Berdiansk and Melitopol, Pushilin said: "It would be too simple a solution."

Speculation is rife as to Ukrainian plans. Political and military leaders in Kyiv have made clear their intentions to launch a new counteroffensive against the Russian troops still occupying swathes of territory in the south and east of the country.

Ukraine's ultimate goal is the liberation of all Ukrainian territory per its 1991 borders, including the Crimean Peninsula, occupied by Moscow since its 2014 invasion, and parts of the eastern Donbas region.

Fierce combat continues along the eastern and southeastern fronts as Russian troops press for slight territorial gains at suspected high costs to both sides. Ukraine, meanwhile, is thought to be preparing its own spring push with the assistance of Western-supplied heavy armor and fresh units trained in NATO nations.

Kyiv has multiple options for a new attack. In the south, a successful drive out of Zaporizhzhia and towards the city of Melitopol could isolate Crimea. A push in the sparsely populated and relatively flat northeastern Luhansk region may be favorable for mechanized units, though might leave Ukrainian troops there in a vulnerable salient.

With Moscow's forces reportedly nearing exhaustion in Donetsk—including around Bakhmut—reinforcing Ukrainian formations might be able to punch through the Russian lines and recapture lost territory around the city of Donetsk, though the heavy fortifications in this urbanized region would pose a serious challenge.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Estonia's ERR television channel on Sunday that Kyiv's forces "will continue to liberate temporarily occupied territories" in several areas of the country in 2023.

The coming counteroffensive, Reznikov said, "is already planned in different directions" and will be supported with NATO-provided tanks including the German-made Leopard 2. "You will see them during our counteroffensive campaign," Reznikov said, adding that the exact timing of the push depended on "weather conditions."

"During the springtime we have wet ground," he explained, adding that this favors "vehicles without wheels."

The Ukrainian leadership has faced some criticism for its dogged and costly defense of Bakhmut, which Ukrainian and Western officials have repeatedly said holds little strategic value. The fighting there, Reznikov said, is giving Ukrainian forces elsewhere a chance to prepare for new attacks and degrade Russian capabilities.

"They have suffered heavy losses with many dead and wounded," Reznikov said of the attacking Russians. "On average, they lose at least 500 soldiers every day."

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry to request comment.