'Fields still look like large lakes': Top German general says conditions for Ukrainian counteroffensive not in place

New Delhi: The Inspector General of the German Armed Forces Carsten Breuer has said that the weather conditions for the much-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive are still not right but the preparations for the operation are in full swing.

According to a Russia Today report, citing German news agency DPA, the General said the German-made tanks Western nations had supplied to Ukraine had allegedly already seen some action.

“It was explained to me how the battle is fought on the frontlines. The ground is still muddy and moist,” Breuer said, following a two-day visit to Kiev last week where he met commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces Valery Zaluzhny and Defence Minister Aleksey Reznikov.

Admitting that conditions for a comprehensive offensive were “not yet in place” in the last few weeks, Breuer said some fields in Ukraine still look like “large lakes”.

“Kiev has nonetheless assured that plans for the Ukrainian offensive are underway,” Breuer said.

He also informed that Germany’s Leopard battle tanks had already been used in the fighting.

Noting that Ukrainians now have enough equipment to “survive in combat”, Breuer said “it was made clear to me that (they) are in action.”

He admitted, however, that Kiev’s “requirements will adapt over time.”

The German Armed Forces chief spoke in favor of further military aid to Ukraine, arguing that Kiev’s troops were supposedly “fighting for all of us.”

Before arriving in Kiev, Breuer also inspected the Western logistics system in Poland used to deliver military equipment and supplies to Ukraine.

The long-awaited counteroffensive was originally expected to start in the spring – even as early as late winter – but has not materialised thus far. Many Ukrainian and Western officials have since urged the public not to set their expectations for the operation too high.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy’s aide Mikhail Podoliak said on Tuesday that the much-touted offensive should not be treated as a make-or-break moment in the ongoing conflict.

“When we talk about a counteroffensive, that it will cause a collapse for Russia or, conversely, there will be no gains for Ukraine, it looks like we are in a Hollywood movie, where a big battle for Middle-earth begins and one battle for Gondor will decide everything. Things do not happen like that,” a Russia Today report quoted Podoliak as saying.

The long-hyped offensive is a set of “many events,” some of which may be “more successful, while others – less (successful),” he added.

Multiple senior US officials have also expressed doubt that Ukraine will be capable of reaching its proclaimed goal of expelling Russian troops from all the territories it claims as its own anytime soon.

Moreover, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby recently warned that Moscow might launch a new offensive of its own shortly.

“In the spring, when the weather improves, and it’s already starting to improve … we can expect the Russians to want to go on the offensive in some areas,” Kirby told the state-run Voice of America outlet on Friday.

With inputs from agencies

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