” When will the Ukrainian counter-offensive be launched? », wonders The world. ” When will the troops in kyiv consider themselves ready to attack the front line? Since the end of winter, military analysts have been scrutinizing the slightest events in an attempt to see clearly into the strategy drawn up by the Ukrainian general staff, which has succeeded for more than a year in maintaining secrecy about its operations. (…) The only certaintypoint Le Monde, the Ukrainians are actively preparing the ground for their operations. For several weeks, strikes on Russian logistical devices have been increasing, especially in depth, that is to say on the most rear areas of the front. Every day and every night, fuel and ammunition depots, railway junctions, telecommunications infrastructure, command posts or even soldiers’ cantonments are targeted by Ukrainian shells, rockets or drones in the occupied territories. , but also on Russian soil. »
And “ according to analysts, still picks up the evening paper, it is in this light that we must analyze the Ukrainian infiltration operation carried out the day before yesterday, during which a column of armored vehicles destroyed a border post near Belgorod, before penetrating into Russian territory for several kilometres. “By doing this, the Ukrainians are forcing the Russians to choose where to send reinforcements, knowing that they cannot do it everywhere” “Said a military analyst interviewed by the newspaper.
“Immense risks”?
In fact, precise The cross“ military experts underline both the tactical and psychological dimension of these attacks: they anchor troops away from the front lines and bring to light the weaknesses of the Russian defence. But the operation above all highlights the immense risks of the next stage of the war, notes the Catholic daily. This is not the first time that Russia has been challenged in areas it controls. We remember the partial destruction of the Crimean Bridge and, more recently, the mysterious drone attacks near the Kremlin. Each time, these actions are exploited by Vladimir Putin to justify the invasion of Ukraine and remobilize its population. The propagandists of the regime will not hesitate to use the intrusion of this beginning of the week, all the more, REMARK La Croix, that one of the groups apparently involved is led by an openly neo-Nazi hooliganism figure. These events, isolated for the time being, give an idea of the instability into which Europe is preparing to plunge again the day the counter-offensive takes place. »
A motley alliance…
“ These Russians who are at war with Putin », exclaims for his part Le Figaro on the front page. ” This spectacular operation was claimed by two Russian armed groups, specifies the newspaperwhich, founded a year ago to defend Ukraine and overthrow the power of Vladimir Putin, have so far refrained from collaborating because of their ideological differences. The first of these groups is ” the Svoboda Rossii (Freedom of Russia) legion, made up of four battalions, which brings together around a thousand men from various political backgrounds and which promotes the defense of freedoms and respect for the 1991 borders. »
And then there is “ the Russian Volunteer Corps, the RDK group, inspired (indeed) by nationalist and supremacist values, which militates for its part for an ethnically homogeneous Russia and suggests that the federated republics which wish it, in particular in the Caucasus, resume their freedom. »
” A motley alliance of neo-Nazis and democratic opponents that everything opposes, rises for his part Le Parisien, except hatred of the Putin regime. “An alliance that “ does not intend to cede an inch of ground to the forces deployed by Moscow to repel them. “The war will continue until Putin’s hanged body adorns the walls of the Kremlin,” the RDK warned. »
The strategy of a thousand bites
Anyway, analyze Le Figarothis unreleased episode “ shows the capacity for distraction and surprise that kyiv can exploit at the time of the announced counter-offensive. It sends the signal that anything is possible, including an extension of the conflict. Not in a fantasized project of invading Russia, but in a strategy of a thousand bites aimed at maddening the Kremlin bear. In this war where we have not yet seen everything, the Ukrainians have just drawn a new weapon – Russian. ” And Le Figaro to ask oneself: what do they have in store tomorrow for the reckless invader? »