Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov compared the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region to a snowball "rolling down a slope." He told about this and other things in an interview with the publication Financial Times.
"Today, Ukraine needs to ensure the defense of the large territory that the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated from the enemy, and to be ready for a possible Russian counteroffensive," Defense Minister Reznikov told the Financial Times, stating that Kyiv's lightning offensive went much better than expected.
Oleksiy Reznikov also said that Ukrainian troops are tired after the six-day attack, but morale is high, and "this is a sign that Russia can be defeated." "The almost simultaneous counteroffensive in the Kherson direction is developing more slowly, because it is an agricultural area with irrigation canals, which the Russians use as defensive trenches.
In turn, as a reaction to Ukraine's counteroffensive, the Financial Times writes about the statements of Ramzan Kadyrov, who criticized the Russian military for retreating and said that if their strategy does not change, he will talk to the "leadership of the country."
"Mistakes were made. I think they will draw conclusions. It can be bad when you tell the truth to someone's face, but I like to tell the truth," Kadyrov said.
"News of the Russian Defense Ministry's retreat will spread quickly," said Dara Massikot, a Russian military expert at the Rand Corporation, an American think tank. "Moscow should not underestimate how quickly bad news, panic and rumors can spread across the front, especially given the exhaustion of forces caused by months of fighting, lack of reserves and rest."
According to the latest reports of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny, the military continues to liberate the territories occupied by Russia, as of September 11, it is already more than 3000 square meters. km
"In the Kharkiv direction, we began to advance not only to the south and east, but also to the north. There are 50 km to go to the state border"
