7 hours ago
image source,PA Medium
Recruits conscripted in Ukraine undergo training
Officials in Kyiv said they planned to assemble a “million-strong army” armed with NATO weapons to retake occupied southern Ukraine from the Russians.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said the recapture of the Black Sea coast was crucial to the national economy.
However, BBC correspondent Joe Inwood in Kyiv said the statements were more of a rallying cry than concrete plans.
Reznikov’s remarks came as Russia’s front-line campaign once morest the Donbas region of Udon Thani is making progress.
A Russian rocket hit an apartment building in eastern Ukraine on Sunday (July 10), killing at least 22 people and possibly burying more than 20 under the rubble.
Rescuers were still searching for survivors at the site of the five-story Chasiv Yar building near the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, which has been the focus of the Russian offensive.
In an interview with The Times, Reznikov praised Britain’s “critical” role in providing Ukraine with the transition from Soviet-era weapons to NATO-standard air defences and ammunition.
He also said that the delivery of weapons needs to be expedited. “We need to get more faster to save the lives of our soldiers. Every day we wait for howitzers, we might lose a hundred soldiers,” he said.
image source,Archyde.com
Chasiv Yar apartment building in ruins
Reznikov also said: “Our armed forces have regarding 700,000 people, plus the National Guard, police, border guards, regarding 1 million people.”
But Jack Watling, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Research Institute, said the one million figure should be viewed with caution.
Watling told the BBC: “It’s not going to be an army of millions participating in the counterattack.”
“Usually, before launching a counterattack, you want to make sure you are acting by surprise. So the public announcement is partly to force Russia to devote more resources to defending once morest this threat.”
Analysis: Kyiv warned once morest counter-offensive
BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale
Direct intervention by politicians in military operations is always dangerous.
Reznikov said the recapture of parts of the territory occupied by Russia was “politically very necessary”.
It is also economically important, especially to resume Ukrainian grain exports through Black Sea ports. Ukraine may think that now is a good time to try to reclaim some of the lost ground in the south with Russia concentrating its military forces in the east.
But the fact is that the fierce battle for the Donbass has consumed a large part of Ukraine’s military strength and resources. We have visited some units that have lost more than half their troops and are in desperate need of reinforcements.
Access to more advanced long-range artillery systems has boosted confidence in Ukraine, but supplies still fall short of what Ukraine says they need.
The question is, is Ukraine really ready to launch a massive counteroffensive in the south, while also preventing a Russian offensive in the east?
People familiar with the matter told me that Western politicians have made it clear to senior Ukrainian politicians and military commanders that now is not the time for a massive counteroffensive.
This may be good for boosting morale, but it’s easy to get stuck in a stalemate. The Ukrainian counter-offensives around Kharkov and Kherson have had limited success so far. They still need time to rebuild their army.
The war in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlighted the danger of opening up multiple fronts at once, with Moscow failing to achieve most of its goals, with only some success by concentrating its forces in the east.
