Ukraine says it could strike airfields and depots inside Russia as part of anticipated spring counteroffensive
Key Developments on February 26:
Ukraine intends to launch a major counter-offensive in the spring, which could include attacking airfields and depots of missiles and artillery systems in Russia, a senior intelligence official said in an interview published on February 26.
“It is one of our strategic military goals that we try to drive a wedge in the Russian front in the south – between (occupied) Crimea and Russia,” Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, told the Berliner Morgenpost.
“We may also destroy weapons depots or military equipment on Russian territory, for example around the city of Belgorod,” Skibitsky said.
The expected spring counter-offensive, according to Skibitsky, aims to “liberate the whole country” and drive out about 370,000 Russian soldiers fighting across Ukraine.
The statement of an expected spring counter-offensive came after senior defense officials said Ukraine was preparing for a major push to change the dynamics of the war. Currently, Russia is pushing on the Eastern Front as it tries with massive forces to finally capture the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast after months of intense siege.
Ukraine recently said their batting distance has increased. After a series of blasts were reported in the Russian-held city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine last week, the military said the area was “no longer totally inaccessible” to Ukrainian forces.
Drone strikes on Engels airbase in western Russia in December, which appeared to be strategic attacks by Ukraine to undermine Russia’s missile capabilities, have signaled Ukraine’s increasing willingness to strike behind Russian lines.
In an interview published in early January, Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, said there could be more attacks “getting deeper” into Russia.
Budanov, however, did not claim Ukraine’s responsibility for a series of drone strikes on Russian air bases hundreds of kilometers deep in the country, adding that he could not comment until the war was over.
“We will give back Crimea”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to liberate Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s occupation of the Black Sea Peninsula.
“This is our country. Our people. Our history. We will return the Ukrainian flag to every corner of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a statement.
“By returning Crimea, we will restore peace,” he added.
In 2014, Russia illegally annexed Crimea in the wake of Ukraine’s EuroMaidan revolution, which ousted pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych. The peninsula is currently home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
On February 26, the US again condemned “Russia’s alleged annexation of the peninsula,” stressing that it “does not and never will recognize” the annexation.
The fierce fighting continues
Russia launched 11 air strikes and 17 rocket attacks against Ukraine over the past day, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported on February 26.
Zelenskyy said in his evening speech that Ukraine shot down a Russian plane near the frontline town of Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast.
Fierce fighting continues in the Bakhmut region in the northern part of Donetsk region. Ukrainian forces are still defending the city despite the shortage of ammunition.
State border guards said on February 26 that Russian forces continued to fire at Ukrainian positions with artillery and tanks. It said the Ukrainians were defending their advance with machine guns, grenade launchers and mortars.
The Russians concentrate their attacks on Bakhmut in small groups of about 10 people. The border guard reported that one of the Russian assault groups suffered heavy casualties with nine dead and five wounded.
In the easternmost Luhansk Oblast, regional governor Serhiy Haidai said Russian infantry units had launched attacks on Ukrainian positions near the Russian-held city of Kreminna and the liberated village of Bilohorivka.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud was visiting Kiev around 700 kilometers west of the Donbass.
His visit was the first official Saudi Arabian delegation to Ukraine since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1993.
Saudi Arabia has announced $400 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, the presidential office said on February 26.