Reznikov: Ukraine has a real plan to liberate temporarily occupied territories
Ukraine's Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov said this in an exclusive interview with Japan's public broadcasting channel NHK, Ukrinform reports.
"I would say that we have a real plan to liberate Kherson. We also have a real plan, as I said earlier, to liberate all Ukrainian territories temporarily occupied [by Russian troops]," he said.
According to Reznikov, the first stage was to deter Russians and the second stage was to stabilize the front lines.
He said they are now in the third stage -- a counteroffensive campaign -- and Ukrainian forces are retaking territories.
He said the campaign has slowed in the south because Russian troops are using irrigation canals as trenches.
The minister said that Ukrainian forces would move forward by winter, when Russian troops' mobility will decline.
Reznikov argued that Moscow knows that using a nuclear weapon in the battlefield will be risky for its troops. He also said Russia is aware of the possible consequences of using one in the Black Sea, which borders a trio of NATO members -- Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price earlier warned that Russia would face consequences, regardless of whether it uses a "dirty bomb" or any other nuclear weapon.
