“I can’t give you any explanations or details, the Russians will read you,” replied Ouest-France Oleksiy Reznikov, Ukrainian Defense Minister, to the question posed by all Western chancelleries: when will the famous “spring counter-offensive”? For several weeks now, “probe shots” have been launched around Zaporijjia (center), Bakhmout (Donbass), up to this team of Russian allies of Ukraine in the Belgorod region. But no massive and coordinated attacks yet. Many observers saw in the fierce resistance in Bakhmout, which finally fell, the beginning of a counter-offensive. Indeed, this battle made it possible to “fix” unavailable Russian troops on another part of the front.
As for the attacks in the Belgorod region, the minister rather sees them as the disagreement of a “part of the population with the official regime of the Kremlin. And we have images that show us that struggles against the regime in Russia have been taking place for a long time”. Moreover, he refutes any connection with the Ukrainian army: “They were Russian citizens, we checked it”.
kyiv’s main objective remains “the liberation of the occupied territories” “including Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk,” he told Ouest-France. “My personal conviction, my instinct tells me that we have a serious chance of making a breakthrough this year, especially during the summer,” he added. “I’m sure that we will be able to make breakthroughs during this counter-offensive in the south, in the east, in two or three places on the battlefield. This will trigger a new withdrawal movement of the Russians from our territory, details Oleksiy Reznikov. Because they proceeded to a new mobilization, but they are many beginners, without experience, without mastery of weapons. Wagner used prisoners, and for the siege of Bakhmout, for eight months, 60,000 men died or were wounded in action”.
But to succeed in such an offensive against a Russian army, whatever one may say, which is still operational, Ukraine needs weapons, and modern weapons. US President Joe Biden declared himself open on May 19 to the delivery of F-16 fighter jets. “We need more than 100 aircraft,” asked the minister, who would like to obtain planes from France. “But from what I know, in France you have a limited quantity of Rafale*. I’m not sure that France would agree to give us Rafales to fight directly on the battlefield. It’s a question of production, of time. It is not a political question”. Oleksiy Reznikov, who himself “tested the AMX 10-RC (French armored reconnaissance vehicles, editor’s note)”, “was able to measure the great shooting accuracy of these armaments”.
Ukraine, which suffered a heavy rain of missiles and drones on Monday, consumes a lot of anti-aircraft ammunition. “Air defense systems are priority number 1,” according to the minister. But, for Kiev, the most important thing is the regular delivery of ammunition: “And there is a very important subject with our partners, concerning the caliber of 155 mm (the standardized NATO caliber, editor’s note)”, he said. precise. “At the beginning of the war, the consumption of artillery shells of various calibers was 60,000 per day on this war. Today we are at about 30,000. Different types. We can use less, even 10,000. But this war is a war of resources”.
Finally, the minister mentioned long-range missiles. “When in July last year we received M270 rocket launchers from Germany and LRUs from France, we had the opportunity to hit targets 80 km away. But the Russians then moved their strategic positions back 120 km,” he recalled. Since then, the United Kingdom has provided Storm Shadow missiles (with an official range of 250 km, but which could well reach double, Editor’s note) and “we have asked for Taurus from Germany, Scalp from France and other ammunition to other countries”.
*The Rafale is produced by the Dassault group, owner of Le Figaro.
