Russian military bloggers are worried about the ability of Moscow’s troops to handle an imminent Ukrainian counter offensive, the Institute for the Study of War has said.
The US think tank noted how the Russian information space was reacting to footage on Saturday, which allegedly showed a column of Ukrainian armored vehicles along the highway around 13 miles southwest of Bakhmut.
Russian sources speculated that this signaled plans by Kyiv to launch a counter offensive operation southwest of the city, with one prominent milblogger saying that Ukrainian forces were capable of intensifying counter attacks to stabilize the front line around the Donetsk town.
The ISW said on Sunday that increasing discussions about an imminent Ukrainian counter offensive “suggest that Russian sources are increasingly uncertain about the Russian military’s ability to maintain the initiative around Bakhmut.”
Lending weight to speculation about Ukraine’s intentions was geolocated footage published on Sunday which showed how Ukrainian forces had conducted a successful counter attack southwest of Ivanivske, around four miles west of Bakhmut. Newsweek has emailed the Russian defense ministry for comment.
On Sunday, Czech president Petr Pavel told the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita that Ukraine must launch a major counter offensive within the next few months to take advantage of the “window of opportunity.”
He told the publication that Kyiv’s allies were expecting “some progress” this year and “after next winter, it will be extremely difficult to maintain the current level of assistance.”
He suggested that if such a counter offensive fails, “it will be extremely difficult to get funding for the next one.”
It comes as the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that Russian forces had conducted 25 attacks in the Bakhmut area on Sunday although only secured “marginal gains.”
On Monday, Ukraine said its air, rocket, and artillery forces had conducted strikes against 10 Russian temporary bases over the previous day.
Ukraine’s military said it had also repelled almost 70 Russian assaults with Moscow’s forces conducting offensives in Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Mariinka, and Shakhtarsk in Donetsk Oblast.
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to visit Moscow on Monday for talks with his Russian counterpart which could have see Beijing act as a peacemaker in the war.
In an article published in the Russian state media, Xi said that ties between China and Russia featured “mutual trust, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.”
Last month, China’s foreign ministry presented a position paper on the Ukraine was calling for peace talks, an end to sanctions, and stressing Beijing’s opposition to the use of nuclear weapons.
Western officials have raised concerns that China may be looking to give Russia lethal military assistance. Beijing has denied the claims.
Russian military bloggers are worried about the ability of Moscow’s troops to handle an imminent Ukrainian counter offensive, the Institute for the Study of War has said.
