By Athena Papakosta

In the last 48 hours, the Ukrainian armed forces have been making efforts to break through the Russian defense lines in the south-east of the country, with analysts not ruling out that, perhaps, this is the start of the long-awaited counter-offensive by Kiev.

A Russian-appointed official in Moscow-held Zaporizhia says fighting has restarted and is now intensifying on the region’s eastern border with the Donetsk region. The purpose of the Ukrainian armed forces, as he explained, is to approach the Sea of ​​Azov in order to succeed in cutting off the Russian armed forces from the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed in 2014.

For her part, yesterday, Monday, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defense, Hana Maliar, announced that her country had launched a “defense operation” that “includes counter-offensive actions”, without clarifying whether it is the major counter-offensive that has been announced for months from Kiev.

According to analysts, Ukraine appears to be in the preliminary phase of a counter-attack, aiming first at the weak points of the Russian defense so that it can then penetrate it in order to recover its lost – for 15 months – territories.

However, Kiev is keeping quiet about the much-anticipated counter-attack, stressing that it does not matter when it starts but when it ends, and makes it clear that any information might prove particularly useful to the enemy.

He even posted video of well-armed front-line soldiers holding their fingers in front of their lips in the silence gesture.

“Plans love silence. There will be no announcement about the launch” it was characteristically mentioned while, among the images incorporated in it, the F-16 fighters which the Ukrainian side is requesting to strengthen its air defense could not be absent.

In recent months neither side has recorded either significant gains or massive losses in manpower on the battlefield.

This period of time was valuable for both the Ukrainian and the Russian side. On the one hand, Kiev’s Western allies have supplied Ukraine with military aid amounting to at least 65 billion euros, and advanced Western weapons have already been deployed on Ukrainian soil that Ukrainian soldiers have had time to train.

While, on the other hand, Moscow is stockpiling ammunition and has built large fortifications all along the front line with the Ukrainian side expected to be faced with several successive lines of defense.

Kiev wants to prove to both the Ukrainian people and its allies that it will be able to break them, end this deadlock on the battlefield and take back the Ukrainian territories that Russia has placed under its control since in February 2022 when he invaded the country.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dimytro Kuleba, speaking to the Reuters agency, explained that now the Ukrainian armed forces have the necessary weapons for their counterattack, emphasizing that this operation will give his country the victory it needs to end hostilities and join NATO.