Ukrainian official says the first steps of the counter-offensive are underway

The first steps in Ukraine's long-awaited counter-offensive against Russian forces in the occupied territories have begun according to recent comments made by an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky. But what did this advisor say and what did he mean?

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak recently sat down for an interview with The Guardian and revealed that the preliminary operations needed to lay the foundation for his country’s counter-offensive against Russia had already begun. 

Podolyak explained that the upcoming counteroffensive against Russian forces was an ongoing process and its start date could not be pinned down to a certain time or date. 

“It’s an ongoing process of de-occupation,” Podolyak said, “and certain processes are already happening, like destroying supply lines or blowing up depots behind the lines.”

“The intensity is increasing, but it will take quite a long period of time,” Podolyak added, noting that as momentum gathered there would be more border raids into Russia from paramilitary groups like the incursions into Belgorod that happened at the end of May. 

“As an authoritarian regime exists in Russia, how can we prevent its own citizens from doing something about it?” Podolayak questioned, before explaining his point of view. 

Ukraine’s Head of the Presidential Office told The Guardian that had Russia already lost the conventional war in Ukraine and the consequences of that loss would eventually lead to the current Russian federal government losing control over its territory. 

On May 27th, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Valerii Zaluzhyni hinted that the counteroffensive had started when he posted a video clip of a highly-produced piece of propaganda calling on soldiers to take back what was theirs. 

“The time has come to take back what is ours,” General Zaluzhyni wrote alongside the roughly one-minute-long video clip the Commander-in-Chief posted according to CNN.

CNN noted that the video featured imagery of soldiers marching and training as well as the use of heavy equipment like German and American artillery and rocket launchers. 

“Ukraine, my native motherland, Lord, our heavenly father, bless our decisive offensive, our sacred revenge, our holy victory,” one of the soldiers proclaimed at the end of the video according to a translation from CNN. 

On the same day Zaluzhyni posted Ukraine's video, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov told BBC News the counter-offensive could start "tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or in a week," giving few other details but continuing to speculate. 

Danilov went on to say that it would be weird for him to give out the dates of Ukraine’s counter-offensive and said that it could not be done, noting mistakes could not be made. 

“We have a very responsible task before our country. And we understand that we have no right to make a mistake,” Danilov told BBC News. 

With so much talk of the counter-offensive being at hand, it's important to remember that comments from these Ukrainian leaders could be part of their sophisticated game of psychological warfare aimed at forcing Russia to act in a way that helps Ukraine's cause. 

Maybe the counter-offensive is at hand, or maybe it's still weeks or months away from actually happening. All we can know for sure at this point in time is that the Ukrainian forces are gathering strength and they could, at some point, launch an offensive.