Kuleba: “Russia is preparing for a major offensive in the first two months of 2023”
According to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Russia has failed to regain momentum after Ukrainian forces regained control of Kherson in November. But Putin will insist on a breakthrough soon, reports a Ukrinform correspondent. “I think the Russian ability to conduct a major offensive can be restored by the end of January, February. They certainly still have hopes that they can break through our lines and advance deeper into Ukraine,” said Kuleba.
According to Kuleba, Ukraine’s immediate concern is to restore electricity throughout the country, after the missile attacks launched by Russia since October 10, 2022: “Russia’s goal is to destroy the Ukrainian energy system and leave millions of people without Access to electricity, water and heat amid freezing temperatures. Putin hopes that without electricity, water and heat, Ukrainians will stop resisting and accept Russian ultimatums, but this is a serious miscalculation. Missile Terror Russia will not make Ukraine collapse,” Kuleba stressed.
Kuleba called the Paris aid conference a “huge success” in raising emergency funds to get Ukraine through the winter. Kuleba admitted that Ukraine is depleting its stockpiles of weapons at an alarming rate, as rocket and artillery assaults continue on both sides. He called not only for long-range missiles, but also for 155mm field artillery, one of the mainstays of the Ukrainian ground forces, for both defensive and offensive actions. “The weapon we need most is more 155mm howitzers. This war is largely an artillery war and Russia still dominates the battlefield in the amount of guns it uses and the number of shells these guns fire,” Kuleba noted.
To help stop the Russian offensive scheduled for January or February, Ukraine needs the 155mm weapons to destroy Russian targets in the occupied Ukrainian territories, Kuleba added.
