![]() There has been speculation that his troops might try to cross the Dnipro River, where Moscow controls the left bank. Ukraine’s counteroffensive plan is classified, known only to Zelenskiy’s commander-in-chief, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, and a few others. The drones were comparatively cheap to build, and frequently knocked out $2m tanks, he said.Įxplosives drop from the drone to the targets. One Ukrainian operator, who uses the codename Caesar, said most missions were successful. They have nicknamed the invisible drones Baba Yaga, after the supernatural witch who flies around on a broom. It makes its own quadcopters in a workshop, and is engaged in a constant battle of wits with Russian forces, who try to knock out the drones using electronic jamming systems.Īccording to Ukrainian partisans, spooked Russian soldiers have grown terrified of mysterious nighttime attacks. The unit calls itself Perun, after a pagan god of sky and thunder. When Russia invaded last February, he led the defence of the southern city of Mykolaiv, and has since worked closely with the drone unit. Kostenko is also a deputy with the pro-European Golos party, and the chair of the Kyiv parliament’s intelligence and security committee. We still need a bit more time,” the president said. In interviews this week, Zelenskiy said some armoured vehicles promised by the west had yet to arrive, and that Kyiv was not prepared to accept a bad peace deal if the counteroffensive failed, or fell short. Senior Ukrainian officials have warned against exaggerating the likelihood of a repeat breakthrough. Their optimism comes after Ukrainian operations last autumn in the north-east and south, which liberated large swathes of territory, including the city of Kherson. Western observers, by contrast, appear to expect a decisive blow. They raise the prospect that the war could go on for a long time – through 2023, at least, and into next year. Kostenko’s comments inject a note of caution into what Ukraine’s army might realistically achieve over the next few months. We can’t win if they have large amounts of ammunition and resources.” He acknowledged that Ukraine was playing a disinformation game about when and where it might strike, with signs that it was working, and that Moscow was beginning to panic. “Our army won’t go forward until this preparation work is done. Ukraine’s armed forces were unlikely to embark on a major frontal offensive until they had weakened Moscow’s battlefield capability, he indicated. “That’s already happening too, probably,” he said. A second stage involved seeking out and eliminating Russian command and control centres, causing a breakdown of communications with troops in the field. The first involved the step-by-step elimination of Russia’s military potential, with strikes against logistical targets such as weapons depots and fuel dumps. Kostenko said the campaign was already unfolding in stages. According to Kostenko, Ukraine’s long-anticipated push should be understood as a rolling “spring-summer campaign” against an entrenched and powerful adversary. Speaking earlier the same day, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said his forces needed more time. On Thursday night, Russian military bloggers erroneously reported that it had started. “We are showing through real cases, real deeds, what our priority is: it’s top corruption, it’s criminal organisations at the highest levels of power,” he said.There has been intense speculation that Kyiv is about to launch a major counteroffensive. The agency’s chief, Semen Kryvonos, told Tuesday’s briefing it was the most high-profile case involving Ukrainian agencies fighting corruption. In a statement, Nabu said the supreme court head was suspected of taking a $2.7m (£2.16m) bribe. Nabu had announced on Monday that anti-corruption agencies were investigating large-scale corruption in the supreme court system, and shared a photograph of piles of dollars neatly stacked up on a sofa. “At this time, the head of the supreme court has been detained and measures are being taken to check other individuals for involvement in criminal activity,” Omelchenko told a joint briefing with the national anti-corruption bureau of Ukraine (Nabu). Omelchenko did not identify the judge by name but the head of the court is the chief justice, Vsevolod Kniaziev, who could not immediately be reached for comment. Photograph: National Anti-Corruption Bureau Of Ukraine/Reuters Money found by anti-corruption detectives during their investigation. ![]()
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