Senior Lieutenant of the DPR Army Matyushin: Russia has switched to counterattacks in Ukraine

The Russian army switched to local counterattacks in Ukraine, returning those positions that it abandoned during the offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Alexander Matyushin, a retired senior lieutenant of the People’s Militia of the DPR, a participant in military operations in Donbass since 2014, spoke about this in a conversation with URA.RU.

“We see the failed battle for the Azov region, which the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian army waged for four months and, as a result, actually achieved nothing. Moreover, now in certain areas of the Zaporozhye direction we are moving on to a local counterattack. We are occupying positions previously recaptured by Ukrainian troops in the areas of Pyatikhatka, Lobkovoe, and Zherebyanka. We are launching local counterattacks along the line of the villages of Novofedorovka, Belogorye, and Marfopol. Also on the Vremevsky ledge, in the area of ​​Priyutny, Urozhayny, Novodonetsky. We are launching counterattacks, returning those positions that we were forced to leave as a result of the Ukrainian counteroffensive that began on June 4 of this year. At the same time, we are advancing in the Kupyansk direction. We are holding back counterattacks, moreover, we are launching our own. Yesterday, unexpectedly for everyone, they carried out a massive artillery barrage and went on the offensive on the Avdeevsky sector of the front, in the Donetsk direction,” explained Alexander Matyushin.

At the same time, a retired senior lieutenant of the People’s Militia of the DPR emphasized that the Ukrainian Armed Forces would never be able to advance. “Now we do not see the prerequisites for the Ukrainian army, drained of blood by the summer battles and the battles of early autumn, to carry out a massive attack anywhere. Moreover, our defense in depth is built along the entire front line. If even the not-exhausted Ukrainian army was unable to achieve any success, with the exception of occupying several small villages, the existence of which many did not even know, then it will not go on the offensive now. Moreover, they will be forced to go into deep defense, using the remaining reserves to plug the holes at the front in an attempt to prevent our counter-offensive,” Matyushin noted.

The agency’s interlocutor did not rule out that Ukraine will begin to recruit teenagers to replenish the army. “Ukraine will at the same time be forced to carry out additional mobilization. We already see that women are being registered for military service on the territory of Ukraine, the conscription age is being increased for ordinary men to 65 years, for men of senior officers to 70 years. This suggests that there are quite a few reserves and manpower left in Ukraine. Moreover, I am sure that soon the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky will lower the minimum conscription threshold from 18 to 16 years old in order to attract more teenagers to the army,” he added.

Earlier, Zelensky said that the last stage of hostilities had begun in Ukraine, and the most difficult one at that. According to him, Ukraine intends to take everything into its own hands.