On the matter of the much-mooted and anticipated counteroffensive, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced today that they will definitely not announce it. The Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram, as reported by Ukrinform: “Plans love silence. There will be no start announcement.”
In a possibly unrelated development, Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhny also loves silence. He has not been heard from since his unexpected absence from a high-level meeting with NATO officials on May 10—except for an unconvincing appearance in the last 8 seconds of this video on May 25: https://t.me/a_shtirlitz/25857
It has been widely reported that he suffered injuries when a Russian attack hit his command post around May 9 or so, but Kiev is making no announcement. Assumedly, should there come a time when he might be able to recommence activities, the Deputy Minister of Defense will announce that there will be no start announcement.
