In an interview with The Guardian, US Army General Petraeus, who served as the supreme commander of the multinational force in Iraq, the commander of the US Central Command, the top commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and the director of the CIA, declared that the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian army will be "very impressive."
Petraeus said that he feels that the Ukrainian army will achieve a "combined arms effect", and the Ukrainian army's sappers will take the lead in breaking through various obstacles set up by the Russian army, including minefields; Subsequently, the armored forces will attack, the infantry will protect tanks and armored vehicles from Russian anti-tank attacks, the air defense system will weave a reliable air defense network for the ground forces to prevent the air attacks of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the electronic warfare units will interfere with the communication of the Russian army, the attacking Ukrainian army will have enough supplies, the logistics convoy will follow the advancing Ukrainian army's rear, and the artillery will constantly clear the forward obstacles and provide real-time fire support for the attacking forces.
Although he resigned from the CIA director in 2010 due to an extramarital affair scandal, and his future was ruined, Petraeus's military talent is obvious to everyone and has been recognized by professionals, otherwise he would not have served as commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, commander of coalition forces in Iraq, and commander of U.S. Central Command.
Shortly after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, four or five days to be exact, Petraeus asserted that the Russian army had lost the war, because by watching the relevant video, Petraeus found that there were serious problems with the mechanized columns of the Russian army, and when they stopped to rest, the soldiers had nothing to do, which showed that the Russian army had serious problems in training, extremely unprofessional, and simply could not complete complex tactical operations.
In contrast, when the US military operates in Afghanistan and Iraq, once the formation stops, everyone is busy maintaining and checking the vehicle equipment, as far as possible to improve the rate of appropriateness, you know, the reliability of the complex technical equipment of the US military is higher than that of similar equipment of the Russian army, even if the US military is still very busy, the Russian army has nothing to do, not like a war, but like a trip, as if the vehicle and equipment have a problem as long as it is sent to the repair shop. So far, the performance of the Russian army has not been different from Petraeus's expectations: it is not capable of completing any modern combined operations.
Now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared that the Ukrainian army is ready, and the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has also released relevant videos showing that a counteroffensive is about to be launched, and even hacked Crimean TV, asking the local people to keep silent about the possible military operations launched by the Ukrainian army.
Although there has not been any official confirmation, a lot of information shows that the recent series of actions of the Ukrainian army is very abnormal: sappers have carried out demining operations in many areas, these demining operations are carried out at night, and it is even difficult for the Russian army to fire artillery to stop them; Barges were busy on the Dnieper, and large numbers of troops, heavy weapons and ammunition were sent to the area on the eastern bank of the Dnieper.
And the most obvious performance is the Ukrainian artillery, Ukrainian artillery with "Hymas" rocket artillery and long-range missiles, constantly "demilitarized" the Russian rear, especially against Russian artillery, only yesterday, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claimed to have destroyed 32 artillery pieces and 7 multiple rocket launchers of the Russian army.
Strangely, in many areas, the Ukrainian artillery no longer seems to be restricted, and the number of shells fired has soared, not at all as insufficient ammunition as previously declared; In other areas, the Ukrainian army can only fire ten shells per mortar per day, instead of the previous limit of 300 shells per day, which makes the Russian army feel very scared: no matter how short of mortar shells, it is impossible to fire only 10 rounds a day.
When things go wrong, there will be demons.