Russia to “panic” when Ukraine launches counteroffensive - deputy defense chief

Deputy Defense Minister Volodymyr Havrylov said this in an interview with The Independent, Ukrinform reports.

“We will launch our counteroffensive – when and where it doesn’t matter now,” he said. “[And when that happens] Russia will be in panic; you will see a lot of panic. They still don’t understand that [their] propaganda is demonstrating a false picture of what is actually happening on the ground. This war will be won on the ground, not on the TV screens, not on the internet.”

Havrylov added that the Kremlin had been hiding the true scale of Russia's losses in Ukraine from its own people but they will no longer be able to do so when Ukraine begins to regain its territories and these losses increase even more.

"You can’t fool your people for many years... especially if they are starting to see a difference on the ground, they are starting to see the killed and wounded, they see families who lost the men of their houses. You can’t hide the death of your son, or your husband, or your brother," deputy minister said.

He also expressed the opinion that he would not be surprised if one day, perhaps as soon as this month or the next one, the world sees something that contributes to the immediate collapse of Russia's strategy, its military, or its economy.

“Bakhmut demonstrated that, not only to us in Ukraine but also to the enemy, that there is no military solution for Russia in this war; even worse, there is a military disaster awaiting Russia at the end of this war, and we will see it soon,” Havrylov added.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, briefed the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, on the Army’s preparations for the liberation of Ukrainian territories.

Photo: armyinform.com