Zaluzhnyi: Ukraine preparing new major military operation

Grad multiple rocket launcher of the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade of Ukraine fires towards Russian positions in Donbas, Ukraine. (Photo by Laurel Chor/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Ukraine’s Armed Forces are preparing a new major military operation, but "it’s not visible yet," Chief Commander Valerii Zaluzhnyi said in an interview with the Economist.

With the limited resources Ukraine has, it’s very difficult to conduct large-scale military operations, but this one will not require a lot of ammunition, according to Zaluzhnyi. He didn't provide further details.

The chief commander added that the number of shells the Ukrainian army has and the allies could provide was very limited. Zaluzhnyi cited Antony Radakin, the head of the U.K. Armed Forces, who had told him that if Ukraine used too much ammunition, Europe “would have nothing to live on.”

Zaluzhnyi also said that to be able to liberate all territories occupied by Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, Ukraine will need 300 tanks, about 700 infantry fighting vehicles, and 500 howitzers.

In the same interview, Zaluzhnyi said that Russia is preparing for a new attack on Ukraine “as soon as January, but more likely in the spring,” seeking to push back Ukrainian forces and potentially making a second attempt to take Kyiv.

In the past months, Ukraine has successfully conducted two major military operations on liberating Kharkiv Oblast in the east and territories on the west bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast in the south, including the regional capital Kherson.