The 14th day of war: “green corridor” for civilians amid counterattack prospects

UKRAINE - In Brief 09 Mar 2022 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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“Russian army is not strong, it’s just long” – it’s a popular joke in nowadays perfectly depicting what is going on at the frontline. Every time Russians approach positions of Ukrainian forces – they are destroyed and then Ukrainian soldiers sit patiently awaiting new portions of Russians coming. That’s why the frontline effectively does not move since March 3rd. But the time of counterattack is approaching. Ukraine has mobilized near 500 000 soldiers while Russians lost near ¼ of 200 000 contingent deployed initially. And no reinforcement is seen on the horizon unless general mobilization in Russia is announced. This layout means that General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine very likely will switch from defense to offense soon. Remarkably, the Ministry of Defense addressed Ukrainians with a request not to comment on any military developments they observe since this information is very sensitive. Surprisingly, but after this request previously extensive descriptions of various informed journalists became concise and stingy. Moreover, all video updates about actions at the front which circulated actively on the first days of the war promptly became scarce. As of today we receive main information on actions at the front from the official reports of General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The key pain are civilians that were locked at the action areas. It looks like hundred thousands of civilians locked in the suburbs of Kyiv are among the reasons why Ukrainian army abstain from counter-attack. Residents of Kyiv were requested to leave the city and today, according to the available information, finally civilians were able to leave the area of Irpin and Bucha whe...