Has Ukraine’s counter-offensive actually begun?

PARIS: Fighting is raging and Kyiv is relentlessly pressing its allies for more military hardware.

But has Ukraine’s long-promised counter offensive against the Russian invasion actually begun?

Analysts say Ukraine has stepped up its activity along the front line, seeking notably to pin Russia down and inflict maximum casualties around the flashpoint town of Bakhmut.

Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been on a whistlestop tour of European allies, winning pledges from Britain, France and Germany of increased military support while insisting Kyiv needs more.

Western capitals are eager to see the offensive start, in the hope Ukraine can make gains, force Russia to the negotiating table on Kyiv’s terms and open a path to ending the conflict.

Ukraine is seeking to take back control of territory occupied by Russian forces in the wake of the February 2022 invasion and also areas, including Crimea and parts of the Donbas, seized by Russia in 2014.

The battle for Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine has turned into the longest standoff since the Russian invasion.

Ukraine is now saying it is advancing in the area, retaking Russian positions in Bakhmut’s suburbs.

“I lean towards the interpretation that Ukraine is fixing Russian forces in Bakhmut to keep them committed to a particular front while Ukrainian forces probe different areas,” said Ivan Klyszcz, a research fellow at the International Centre for Defence and Security in Estonia.

“My preliminary conclusion is that these probing and shaping operations will be ongoing but remain at the tactical level, that is, until the leadership decides the best moment to launch a larger operation,” he told AFP.