"Relevant signs should indicate this": veteran Hetman about offensive on Kharkiv

He stated this on Espreso TV.

Regarding the Russian forces' offensive on Kharkiv from the southeast, Hetman said: "They need to get from Kupyansk to Kharkiv first - it is quite possible that there will be an attempt to reach the Oskil River coast in the Kupyansk direction, it may be an attempt to reach Kupyansk-Vuzlovyi - this is the railway we use as a logistics route."

According to Hetman, the Ukrainian military is convinced that the Russian troops will not be able to cross the river and move to the right bank.

"We are trying to guess where they will take more powerful offensive actions, although we don't need to guess, we need to look at what they are doing. There are certain signs for preparing certain actions in defense, offense, and movement. When these signs add up, we can say with a high probability that there will be some kind of action, such as an offensive. If not all the signs add up, it is likely that there will be no offensive.

In 9 out of 10 cases, when the signs add up, certain actions, such as offensive ones, begin. Sometimes it is a distraction, just to keep Ukrainian troops there. Again, given the problems the Russians have with mobilization, with people, otherwise they would not have mobilized, keeping such a large number of armed forces in a certain direction and not using them, but just keeping them there, I think this is a very bold decision," the veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war summarized.

• The deputy commander of the Third Assault Brigade, Maksym Zhorin, said that Russian terrorists were actively preparing for an offensive.
• On May 8, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the situation at the front, the protection of the population, and the disruption of Russian offensives.