We did not know that the counteroffensive was ongoing - ex-military officer Viktor Bishchuk

Victor Bishchuk told about this in an interview with a journalist from Espreso.

"The Kharkiv special operation was planned in such a way that the units that took part in it did not know until the last moment that it was really a counteroffensive. Each unit received its own separate task. You have to move to such a distance and occupy such settlements. There were clear tasks that did not reveal the overall plan. It was known, obviously, to a few people in Kyiv or Kharkiv, or at the command post. This is probably the art of combining many different units from different branches of the military into different territories in order to form a rapid, militarily beautiful operation."

According to Viktor Bishchuk, the soldiers did not know that the counteroffensive was ongoing until the last moment. It was an incredibly beautifully organized operation, not only from a military point of view, but also from the point of view of an information special operation.

"The standard of modern warfare is when an information special operation is combined with a military one," adds Viktor Bishchuk. "Everything is taken into account: the peculiarities of the troops, terrain elements, which troops are opposite. I learned from a telegram that the counteroffensive is ongoing. In reality, Ukrainians know more, because they get their news from the Internet. And a military man does not know what is happening in the neighboring section of the front. He does not know what even his commander has planned."

There was a distance of several tens of kilometers between the settlements. And when there were reports of the liberation of these towns, only then did we realize that something incredible was happening.

"We found out only later that the settlements liberated by the 103rd Brigade were also part of a huge maneuver. There was an incredible sense of pride in being involved in history. After all, the Kharkiv special operation is a truly historic event. When the counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region was underway, there were still Russian units there, but they were not ready to defend themselves. Unlike what is happening now. Now they have drawn conclusions, dug in, built deep defense in several lines of defense, and it will be difficult there. Back then, they were just waiting for orders."