Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s intelligence agency, has stated that Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces will persist through the cold and wet weather expected later this year, even though fighting would become more challenging. Ukraine initiated a counteroffensive during the summer that has retaken more than a dozen villages in the south and east over three months. However, it has faced obstacles such as vast minefields and entrenched Russian forces. Budanov’s comments indicate that Ukraine does not plan to halt its push when the weather deteriorates. The West has provided significant military aid to support Ukraine’s counteroffensive, but the slow progress has raised concerns about maintaining that level of assistance.
Vadym Skibytskyi, an official from Ukraine’s military spy agency, reported that Russia currently has 420,000 servicemen inside Ukraine. The ongoing push in the Zaporizhzhia region is a crucial part of an operation that aims to split Russia’s occupying forces in the south, but it has not yet achieved that goal. Budanov acknowledged that the counteroffensive’s progress had been slower than desired and attributed it to the significant number of Russian “kamikaze” drones and the presence of vast minefields.
