Ben Hodges - Now is Ukraine's Turn to Strike Back, but When, Where, and How Hard will they Strike?

Through the winter, Ukrainian and Western officials had warned Russia was preparing to launch a new offensive. Apparently, it was “mustering forces beyond the Urals”, according to General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s army chief. Rumours circulated, that Russian forces, bolstered by Belarussian divisions, could even try to storm Kyiv once more. Russia had gathered half a million fresh mobilised troops and would “make a push” around the anniversary of the war, suggested the defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov. But it seems that Russia’s offensive began weeks ago, around the meat grinder of Bakhmut, and is already running out of steam – a damp squib. Intercepted communications and the ravings of angered mil bloggers suggest Russia is running out of ideas and ammunition. Now it seems is the turn of Ukraine to strike back. But when, where, and how hard will they hit the Russians? ---------- SPEAKER: Ben Hodges is a retired United States Army officer, who became commander of United States Army Europe in November 2014, and held that position for three years until retiring from the United States Army in January 2018. Ben Hodges has been Senior Advisor to Human Rights First since June 2022 and also serves as NATO Senior Mentor for Logistics. Until recently Ben Hodges was the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies, at the Centre for European Policy Analysis, specialising in NATO, the Transatlantic relationship and international security. ---------- LINKS: Ben Hodges - Twitter: https://twitter.com/general_ben Ben Hodges - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Hodges Ben Hodges - CEPA: https://cepa.org/author/ben-hodges/ Ben Hodges - New Statesman: https://www.newstatesman.com/the-weekend-interview/2023/02/ben-hodges-hope-russians-west-loses-will-keep-supporting-ukraine Ben Hodges - The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/b/ba-be/ben-hodges/ Ben Hodges - Defence IQ: https://www.defenceiq.com/contributor/ben-hodges Ben Hodges - BBC HardTalk interview: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/n3ct0c38 Ben Hodges - Globsec: https://www.globsec.org/who-we-are/our-people/lieutenant-general-ben-hodges Ben Hodges - Atlantic Council Q&A: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/content-series/ac-turkey-defense-journal/qa-with-lieutenant-general-retired-ben-hodges/ ----------