Ukraine was preparing counterattack together with U.S. - The New York Times
According to The New York Times, the strategy behind Ukraine’s rapid military gains in recent days began taking shape months ago during a series of tense talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials on the next steps in the war.
This is stated by Censor.NЕТ with reference to LIGА.
Work on the strategy began after President Volodymyr Zelensky decided to demonstrate that Ukraine could fight back against the Russian invasion. On his orders, the Ukrainian military developed a plan for a large-scale offensive to the south in order to retake Kherson and cut off Mariupol from the Russian forces in the east, the weekly said.
According to journalists, Ukrainian generals and US officials believed that such a large-scale attack would entail huge losses and would not be able to return large territories quickly.
According to U.S. and Ukrainian officials, time was of the utmost importance. To mount an effective counterattack, the Ukrainians needed to act before the first snowfall, when Russian dictator Vladimir Putin could use his control of gas supplies to pressure Europe.
One of the critical moments in the development of the plan was a "military maneuver" with U.S. and Ukrainian officials to test the success of a large-scale offensive in the south. The exercise, previously reported by CNN, suggested that such an offensive would fail.
In August, at Ukraine's request, the U.S. stepped up intelligence reporting on Russian troop positions, revealing their weaknesses. Intelligence also noted that it would be difficult for Moscow to quickly reinforce its forces in northeastern Ukraine or move troops from the south, even if it detected Ukraine's preparations for a counteroffensive.
Instead of one major offensive, the Ukrainian military proposed two, the newspaper writes. "One, towards Kherson, is likely to take days or weeks before any dramatic results are achieved due to the concentration of Russian troops. The other was planned near Kharkiv," the article says.
The UK, US and Ukraine have assessed the new plan in an effort to double-check it. This time, officials of the three countries agreed that it would work and give Zelensky what he wanted: a big and clean victory, the NYT writes.
However, the plan, according to an officer of the AFU General Staff, depended entirely on the size and pace of additional military aid from the United States. According to the Ukrainian officer, before the counterattack, the Ukrainian Armed Forces sent the U.S. a detailed list of weapons needed to implement the plan.
Ukrainian and U.S. officials said that weekly or bi-weekly Pentagon announcements of new arms and ammunition deliveries gave Kyiv's senior command the confidence to plan comprehensive simultaneous offensives.
When the Ukrainian military moved into the northeast last weekend, Russian troops scattered. According to U.S. Defense Department officials, in some places around Kharkiv, Russian troops simply withdrew from the battlefield, abandoning their equipment and ammunition.
Although Ukraine may have an opportunity to retake more territory in the east, U.S. and Ukrainian officials say the south is the most important theater of military operations. Ukraine believes that for long-term success, the AFU will still need to achieve the abolished operation's goal of retaking Kherson, liberating the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and cutting off Mariupol from the Russian occupants in the east.
The plan, which emerged from mid-summer discussions, relied heavily on US intelligence and high-tech weaponry. But American officials insist that the credit for the offensive belongs entirely to Zelensky and the Ukrainian military, the publication writes.
