Mikhail Khodaryonok, a former Russian air defense commander and now a commentator on Russian state television, predicted that Ukraine would use high-precision weapons to launch a surprise counterattack, starting with a "massive strike" inside Russia.
He made these statements on air on Russian state television. At the same time, during this period, Kiev has actually gathered in its possession a large amount of heavy weaponry from the West. The excerpt of the Russian's speech was published on Thursday by the BBC with English subtitles.
Ukraine, we know, is preparing for a spring counter-offensive, which will aim to recapture the areas that Russia won since the start of the war last year in February. The capabilities of Kiev's military have been significantly boosted by Western aid in recent months, including the shipment of advanced military equipment, tanks and artillery.
However, on Thursday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kiev was deliberately delaying the counterattack because Ukraine does not have enough Western weapons to succeed without heavy casualties.
In his words, which were unequivocal, Khodaryonok said the delay in launching the counterattack was due to waiting for additional high-precision weapons to be delivered.
“We have seen isolated cases of munitions being used [referring to munitions with Western JDAM conversion kits], but they have not yet been used on a large scale. Also, the specifications and quantity of HIMARS munitions sent by the US to Ukraine are unknown.”
"So in my opinion, Ukraine's counter-offensive operation will begin with a massive strike using high-precision weaponry, as deep as possible against targets in Russia. Mainly infrastructure, of course," he said
On the other hand, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said last month that preparations for the counter-attack are in the final stage and that Ukrainian troops are currently being trained in the use of weapons and military equipment provided by the West.
“Preparations will be completed soon, since apart from sending us weapons we have to teach our personnel how to use them. We have received state-of-the-art systems," Reznikov told reporters at the time.
However, two months after Russia went to war with Ukraine in February 2022, Khodaryonok criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for his war effort in the country. He warned at the time that the situation for Russian troops would "only get worse", but shortly afterwards he changed his stance and started praising Russian military capabilities.
