President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, Commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine, Colonel. Alexander Syrsky and Roman Malovets, deputy chief of staff of the President, look at a war map. AP photo
Ukraine may be gathering forces to launch a new counteroffensive in 2024 after the first offensive, which began this summer, failed to break Russian lines, Welt newspaper reported citing a German expert.
In an interview with a German daily, Nico Lange, a former German defense official who is now a senior fellow at the Munich Security Conference, said that despite growing pessimism in the West about the progress of Ukraine on the battlefield, Kiev maintains a fair amount of optimism thanks to military equipment, with more deliveries expected to come from the West.
“Ukraine may be gathering resources for a new counter-offensive next year,” this expert suggested, adding that Kiev may begin a new offensive in the Kherson area and attempt to cross the river. Dniepr by force.
Meanwhile, the report notes that Ukraine “still has big plans”, explaining that those ambitions are evidenced by Kiev’s wish list submitted to the US, which includes attack helicopters, aircraft advanced combat, long-range missile systems, Abrams tanks and other equipment.
At the same time, Germany’s Bild newspaper also reported on December 15, citing sources, that Ukraine is drawing up a “new war plan”. According to the magazine, Kiev has abandoned plans to push Russia out of territories it claims as its own and is instead focusing on inflicting maximum damage on Moscow.
“Our goal is to have as positive a kill ratio as possible,” an anonymous officer told Bild, adding that if Kiev achieves a 10:1 loss ratio in its favor, they will advance, while a 1:1 ratio will ultimately mean retreat.
Another source was quoted as saying that “Kiev’s position is irrelevant, what matters is that most Ukrainians survive”. An anonymous former Western military expert told Bild that “what we are experiencing is essentially a controlled rearguard action”.
Ukraine launched a much-anticipated counteroffensive in early June but failed to gain any significant ground despite being reinforced with large amounts of Western equipment. Months after the attack, even top Ukrainian officials, including Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, began to admit that the effort had fallen short of its goals.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu stated that Kiev had suffered more than 125,000 casualties since the beginning of the summer.
