Russia will be in a panic when a counter -offensive begins - the Defense Ministry

He told the journalist of the British edition of The Independent that the Russian Federation will be in a panic when the counter -offensive will take place. The success of Ukraine in its long -awaited counter -offensive against Russia may mean the complete collapse of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation or even the Russian economy, said Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Volodymyr Gavrilov.

In an interview, he deliberately silences the terms of the counter -offensive, which is expected in the near future, when spring rains and slips will be replaced by more favorable conditions for fighting.

But when it happens - "very soon", according to the comments made by President Zelensky at a press conference last week - the offensive will reveal the truth about the government -controlled Russian propaganda on hostilities and will cause "ordinary Russians will pay", "the gentleman said Gavrilov. "We will start our counter -offensive - when and where it doesn't matter now. And when that happens, Russia will be in a panic: you will see a lot of panic.

They still do not understand that their propaganda is demonstrating a false picture of what is really going on on the ground. This war will be won on earth, not on TV screens, not on the Internet, "Gavrilov said. He reported that Russia has lost at least 200,000 people since Putin has fallen to Ukraine on February 24, 2022. But these numbers cannot be verified.

Last week, Moscow rejected the US assessment that 20,000 servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were killed and 80,000 were injured in the last five months, although the Russian government refused to provide its own data. According to Gavrilov, the Kremlin hid the true scale of Russian losses, but it will no longer be able to do so when Ukraine begins to conquer the territory, and these losses will increase even more. "You cannot deceive your people for many years.

When people see killed and wounded, see families who have lost their husbands. You can't hide your son's death or your husband or your brother. Official Moscow will suffer from the consequences of their lies" , Gavrilov said. , Noting that he will not be surprised to see how something will happen soon that will contribute to the immediate collapse of the Russian strategy or its military economy.

The maintenance of Bakhmut in Donetsk has played a key role in preparing Ukraine for counter -offensive, allowing defense forces to dictate the conditions on the front line and deplete Russia's main military resources. The situation there left the mood among Russian officers at a "very low level", said Deputy Minister.

Having kept the bridgehead in the Bakhmut Fortress, Ukraine demonstrated that the Russian military machine "was not the quality we watched a year ago, when Russia began a full -scale invasion of Ukraine. " "Bakhmut demonstrated not only to us in Ukraine, but also to the enemy that there is no military decision in this war for Russia. Worse, at the end of this war, a military disaster is waiting for Russia, and we will see it soon," Gavrilov said.

The Deputy Minister said that Western Allies of Ukraine and commercial weapons did not want to supply our country's weapons at the early stages of the war. "Few countries believed that Ukraine would be able to withstand this war," he said. However, the Ukrainian military is now training on Challenger tanks sent by the United Kingdom, M1A2 Abrams and Bradleys from Washington, as well as on a set of new and repaired LOOPARD tanks from European allies.

They are also equipped with a growing number of shells and drones. "We have demonstrated to others our courage, our reliability and seriousness, as well as our willingness to protect our country by all means," Gavrilov says. And he repeated the call of Ukraine to his allies to take the next step and put advanced fighters, saying that there is no other way to prevent the modern aircraft of Russia from striking from the depths of the Russian territory.

"We need something more complicated than ground air defense. What is capable of striking out of range to knock Russian aircraft at a distance of more than 100 km. This is necessary to protect our people. This is why we ask our partners to provide modern fighters such as F16 Or similar. And we insist that they are sent to us as soon as possible because it is about saving the lives of civilians, "Gavrilov said, noting that this war will be won by Ukraine due to technological advantage. "Believe us.

Treat Ukraine more positively and help us achieve the result," he called. Gavrilov said that Ukraine is about to regain its Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed in 2014. "We are ready to do it. Russia must take it as an inevitable part of this war," Gavrilov said, and, summarizing, said that Ukraine was doing everything to end the war with Russia as soon as possible. "I would very much like the year 2023," the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine said.