Ukraine's counteroffensive blitz a huge boost to morale, says defence adviser

Story Transcript

Ukraine's recent streak of victories has left Russian troops deeply demoralized, says a Ukrainian defence adviser. 

Ukrainian soldiers have re-taken more than 6,000 square kilometres of territory from the Russians in a matter of weeks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday. 

Russian troops are surrendering en masse, according to Ukraine. CBC cannot independently verify these claims.

The country has released footage and photographs showing its troops burning Russian flags and inspecting abandoned, charred tanks. 

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops were hitting back with "massive strikes" in all sectors, but there were no immediate reports of a sudden uptick in Russian attacks, according to The Associated Press.

Yuriy Sak, advisor to Ukraine's minister of defence, spoke to As It Happens host Nil Köksal from Kyiv on Tuesday. Here is part of their conversation.

The Kremlin says today Russian forces are simply "regrouping." How would you describe Ukraine's military [and] what it's accomplished over the past week?

[In] the past week, [the] Ukrainian army was able to regain control of over 6,000 square kilometres of ... the territory that was occupied by the aggressor, the Russian Federation.

This is a major setback for the Russian army ... and we're not surprised that they're trying to cover up this humiliation by coming up with some creative terminology. But the reality is such that the Russian army is fleeing. They're fleeing chaotically.

This was a counter-offensive blitzkrieg which resulted in major success for the Ukrainian army and a major setback for the Russian army.

These successes, these advances that you listed there, how much of an impact do you think they'll have on the outcome of the war? In other words, do you see an end to this conflict in sight?

I wouldn't go as far as to say that we see an end to this conflict, because we understand that we are dealing with, still, a large army.

But we are determined. And the major result of this counteroffensive so far was a really incredible boost to the morale of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. And on the other hand, this counteroffensive has considerably degraded and demoralized the Russian army.

Many of them are surrendering. And, indeed, we hope that this will be, you know, a beginning of a new phase of this war that will result, ultimately, in Ukraine's victory.

There are reports that [the] U.S. and British military ... were instrumental in helping form the strategy that Ukrainian forces ultimately deployed, that part of the shift and part of this new success is due to the fact the Ukrainian military was open to that co-operation and strategizing together. Is that true? What can you tell me about that?

All issues related to Ukraine's military strategy are decided exclusively by the general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. And the general staff of the Ukraine Armed Forces has not confirmed any of the issues that you have just raised and referred to.

But at the same time, it is not a secret that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are co-operating with our international partners, with NATO. You know, there's a lot of exchange of reconnaissance information. We are receiving military support in the form of weaponry from our Western partners.

So while it is not possible to confirm that the exact planning was taking place for this kind of offensive, the co-operation between the Ukrainian army and our Western allies has been ongoing pretty much from the first day of this war.

And from the first day of the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and others have been pushing for artillery, air defence systems — you know, military weaponry, for help. And Zelenskyy has said that this counteroffensive should be clear evidence that more of that equipment needs to be sent to Ukraine.

Absolutely. You know, our president, Mr. Zelenskyy, our minister of defence, Mr. [Oleksii] Reznikov, they are talking to our international partners on a daily basis and they are trying to get their commitment to provide Ukraine with more heavy weaponry.

The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, says Russia will continue in Ukraine "until [all] the tasks that were initially set have been fulfilled." What do you say to Mr. Peskov?

I don't want to say anything to Mr. Paskov, because he's been saying so [many] ludicrous statements during the past seven months that it's wrong to believe him or trust him.

But what we can say is that Russia's objectives, which they have set for themselves at the beginning, have not been met at all. So they've suffered one setback after another. Of course, they have captured some of the Ukrainian territory, but we are gradually regaining it.

But their major objective, for example, to gain full control of Luhansk and Donetsk regions, they have not achieved that. At the beginning, they were planning to capture Kyiv within three days. They failed. They were forced to retreat.

While they're unable to achieve success on the battlefield, they're striking civilian infrastructure. So they struck, for example, the power plant in Kharkiv, and as a result, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been left without electricity — schools, kindergartens [and] hospitals. 

Given that duality that you mentioned, on one hand these recent advances and military successes, but the strikes that you just listed, how are people in Kyiv, where you are, feeling?

For now, there is a sense of confidence in Kyiv and in other Ukrainian cities that we will win this war. Everybody supports the Ukrainian army, and everybody's looking forward to, you know, to restoring peace.

With files from The Associated Press. Interview produced by Kevin Robertson. Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.