Ukraine predicts panic and collapse in Russia when counteroffensive begins

This is what he said in an interview with The Independent.

“We will launch our counteroffensive – when and where it doesn’t matter now,” he said. “[And when that happens] Russia will be in panic; you will see a lot of panic. They still don’t understand that [their] propaganda is demonstrating a false picture of what is actually happening on the ground. This war will be won on the ground, not on the TV screens, not on the internet,” he stressed. 

Havrylov claimed that Russia has suffered 200,000 casualties since the full-scale invasion, but Moscow disputes the US estimate of 20,000 Russian deaths and 80,000 injuries over the past five months.

“I would not be surprised if on some day, maybe this month or next month, we will see something which contributes to the immediate collapse of Russian strategy or its military, [its] economy,” he continued.

Havrylov acknowledges that the situation can develop quickly on the ground after many months of attrition. 

“We are ready to do that. Russia has to accept it as an inevitable part of this war. I can only say that we are doing everything possible to end the war as quickly as possible. I would really like 2023 to be a year of victory,” he concluded. 

• On May 6, some Western politicians expressed concerns that the liberation of the Crimean peninsula by Ukraine could trigger a nuclear war.