Ukrainian top brass stirs the pot with talk of Bakhmut counterattack

As Russian observers hunt for clues of a spring offensive, Ukraine’s land forces chief suggests an unlikely strategy

Spring has arrived in Ukraine – with late March temperatures an unreasonably high 17C along much of the frontline in the east. It means it is possible to declare, definitively, that the Russian campaign to knock out Ukraine’s power grid has failed, and whatever happens next in the war, its people will not be frozen out of their homes, as was once feared when the cynical bombing campaign began on 10 October.

The reality, of course, was the missile strikes on key infrastructure had been largely abandoned at the end of January, with Russian missile stocks at 10-15% of prewar levels, according to Ukrainian estimates. Moscow’s tactics are changing: Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Kyiv’s military intelligence, said in a TV interview that it appeared military fuel and “logistics systems” were now being targeted.