President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered the recapture of the coastal territories in the south of the country, which are under the control of Russian forces, head of the Ukrainian defense department Oleksiy Reznikov said in an interview with the British newspaper The Times.

“We understand that politically it is extremely necessary for our country.

The President ordered the Commander-in-Chief (APU. -

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) to develop plans.

After that, the General Staff does its "homework" and tells us what we need to achieve this goal.

This is my work.

I send letters to colleagues in partner countries, the generals tell us why we need these types of weapons, and then we get political decisions, ”the newspaper quoted Reznikov as saying.

He clarified that to achieve this goal, the Kyiv regime can attract up to a million people.

“We have about 700 thousand (people. -

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) in the armed forces, and if we add the national guard, police, border guards, then there will be about a million people,” the minister says.

At the same time, Reznikov said that Kyiv needed more Western weapons “and sooner,” since every day “spent waiting for howitzers” could cost Ukraine numerous losses.

“Our partners in London and Washington, as well as in other capitals, are investing in us not only financial resources, but also the expectations of their people that we must achieve the defeat of the Kremlin,” the defense minister added.

Earlier, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Reznikov also noted that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are suffering heavy losses.

Psychological attack

The head of the Ministry of Defense is not the only representative of the Kyiv regime, who made a statement about plans to return the southern regions of the country under his control.

Thus, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Irina Vereshchuk on the eve called on citizens to leave the southern cities in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions because of the allegedly impending counteroffensive.

At the same time, no dates for this offensive were named.

A similar statement was made by the head of the Joint Coordinating Press Center of the Defense Forces of the South of Ukraine, Natalia Gumenyuk.

“The situation in the southern region remains stably tense.

The advance of our troops is taking place, it is slow but sure.

The proclamation of our successes will be as soon as they are secured,” she said.

  • Russian servicemen in Berdyansk

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The head of the Nikolaev region Vitaliy Kim also announced the presence of Zelensky's order to "liberate" the south of Ukraine.

“The situation is such that the president’s command was to liberate the south, which is good news,” Kim said.

It is worth noting that the Ukrainian president himself later said at a briefing following negotiations with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that he had not read Reznikov's interview and refused to comment on military plans.

In a conversation with RT, Rostislav Ishchenko, president of the Center for System Analysis and Forecasting, suggested that Reznikov could interpret Zelensky's verbal statement about the need to organize a counteroffensive as a direct order.

“Perhaps Zelensky did not give a direct order.

It is likely that he somewhere privately said that it is necessary to reconquer the southern regions.

And Reznikov could interpret this as an order for his PR purposes.

This happens regularly in Ukraine,” the expert noted.

The reaction of the south

In response to the statements of representatives of the Kyiv regime, the deputy head of the military-civilian administration of the Kherson region, Kirill Stremousov, issued an appeal in which he called such statements a trap and urged not to succumb to Kyiv's provocations.

“All those layouts according to which you supposedly have to leave the peaceful city of Kherson are just a trick and a trap.

Stay in Kherson," the official said.

Stremousov stressed that there would be no "liberation" announced by the Kyiv regime.

“In any case, we are moving forward.

We are building Russia in the city of Kherson, and no one will ever intimidate us, ”he concluded.

In turn, the State Administration of the Zaporozhye region called statements about an allegedly being prepared counter-offensive a manifestation of panic.

“The Kyiv regime is suffering colossal losses and defeats on the front line, while peaceful life is being established in the territories liberated by the Russian army and people do not want to return under the control of Ukraine again, seeing their future exclusively in Russia,” said Vladimir Rogov.

Sergei Tsekov, a member of the international committee of the Federation Council, called the statements of representatives of the Kyiv regime "an inept psychological attack".

According to him, the counteroffensive, even if it is decided in Kyiv, will not have any effect.

The senator expressed the opinion that the Ukrainian authorities are trying to sow panic among the civilian population.

“I am sure that the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions will not only be under the constant control of our army, but will also become part of the Russian Federation, which they themselves have repeatedly expressed their desire to,” RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.

Lack of resources 

Military experts and political scientists interviewed by RT believe that the Kyiv regime now does not have the necessary resources to organize a counteroffensive in the south.

“For an offensive, at least a threefold superiority in forces and military equipment is necessary.

They can collect a million, but there is nothing to arm these forces with.

In the steppes of the Kherson region, this million or two million is just cannon fodder.

Initially, any specialist understands that this is technically impossible, ”explained military observer Alexander Khrolenko.

Military expert Ivan Konovalov agreed with this assessment.

“The Ukrainian command does not have such forces.

This is another PR campaign by Mr. Zelensky against the backdrop of defeats in the Donbass.

During the battle for Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, Ukrainian troops suffered significant losses.

Now they are trying to build a new line of defense, relying on Seversk, Soledar and Artemovsk, which they are unlikely to succeed - they will be driven out of there, and the battles will continue around Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.

The main forces will be sent there, and a large-scale operation in the southern regions is unlikely, ”said the interlocutor of RT.

  • A column of Russian military equipment on a highway near Kherson

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Aleksey Podberyozkin, director of the Center for Military-Political Studies at MGIMO, believes that by making such statements, representatives of the Kyiv regime expect to receive new packages of military and material assistance from Western countries.

“The leaders of Ukraine come up with informational occasions so that they are not forgotten.

Interest in them is falling, and each time it is more and more difficult to beg for money and weapons - these flows begin to shrink, ”the expert noted. 

He also expressed the opinion that the data voiced by Reznikov on the number of Ukrainian paramilitary formations do not correspond to reality. 

“They might as well say that they will gather 40 million people.

They took and counted in this million all firefighters, policemen, border guards, and most importantly, untrained youth and elderly people who have never fought and are unsuitable for military service.

Therefore, in reality, the problem looks like this: the Ukrainian army was more or less trained in the amount of 250 thousand people, of which 100 thousand underwent real training.

Today, little remains of this number, as well as of the military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, ”said the analyst.

According to him, the Ukrainian army is rapidly losing its combat capability due to significant losses among personnel and military equipment.

“The specified number of people for the counteroffensive can be gathered if you line up the population, for example, of the city of Nikolaev in a column, give them cuttings from shovels and say: “Now you will go into battle.”

It has nothing to do with military activity.

In Ukraine, there is indeed a problem with the training of professional military personnel, their combat coherence, and command staff.

Because the most motivated and prepared units (80-85%) have been knocked out, these are irretrievable losses, ”the interlocutor of RT explained.

He also noted that if such an order for a counterattack on the southern regions of Ukraine was indeed issued, then it should cause some confusion among the fighters and the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“How can you attack when there are no opportunities.

Near Kherson, they will face a serious defeat, which has already happened in the recent past.

Warehouses and stockpiles of weapons were knocked out by Russian high-precision weapons.

Maybe Kyiv will be able to gather another fifty thousand untrained mobilized, which is now being done under duress.

But in reality, they will not represent any military power, ”Podberyozkin concluded.