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Is Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Coming Soon?

Here’s what it might look like.

Ukrainian soldiers train outside Kyiv
Ukrainian soldiers train outside Kyiv
Ukrainian soldiers train outside Kyiv on Feb. 21. Paula Bronstein for Foreign Policy

For months, there has been speculation over Ukraine’s spring counteroffensive. Now, as the weather gets warmer, observers are wondering: What is Kyiv waiting for? The reporting and essays below explore this question and more, delving into the reasons for the holdup, the innerworkings of Ukrainian military training and decision-making, and what the highly anticipated offensive might look like.—Chloe Hadavas

For months, there has been speculation over Ukraine’s spring counteroffensive. Now, as the weather gets warmer, observers are wondering: What is Kyiv waiting for? The reporting and essays below explore this question and more, delving into the reasons for the holdup, the innerworkings of Ukrainian military training and decision-making, and what the highly anticipated offensive might look like.—Chloe Hadavas


Weapons and other military hardware delivered by the United States military at Boryspil Airport, near Kyiv.
Weapons and other military hardware delivered by the United States military at Boryspil Airport, near Kyiv.

Weapons and other military hardware delivered by the U.S. military at Boryspil Airport near Kyiv on Jan. 25, 2022. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Ukraine’s Spring Offensive Is Waiting on Weapons

Every day Kyiv waits, the Russians dig deeper trenches, FP’s Jack Detsch reports.


Normandy landing during World War II
Normandy landing during World War II

American soldiers wade toward the shore as they land in German-occupied Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. Circa Images/GHI/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Ukraine’s Longest Day

The first 24 hours of the expected counteroffensive will likely be decisive, Franz-Stefan Gady writes.


A worker adjusts lights above a tourist map of Ukraine at the Ukraine stand of the ITB International Travel Trade Fair in Berlin March 4, 2014.
A worker adjusts lights above a tourist map of Ukraine at the Ukraine stand of the ITB International Travel Trade Fair in Berlin March 4, 2014.

A worker adjusts lights above a tourist map of Ukraine at the Ukraine stand of the ITB International Travel Trade Fair in Berlin March 4, 2014. JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images

Crimea Has Become a Frankenstein’s Monster

The Ukrainian government is now trapped by its own uncompromising—and increasingly indefensible—policy, Anatol Lieven writes.


Ukrainian soldiers train outside Kyiv
Ukrainian soldiers train outside Kyiv

Ukrainian soldier Taksist (a nickname) with the 114th Territorial Defense Brigade trains at a remote site outside Kyiv on Feb. 26. The instructor (standing center left) is U.S. Army veteran John Roberts from Newport Beach, California, who has been teaching through the International Legion of Defense of Ukraine since May 2022. Paula Bronstein photos for Foreign Policy

How Ukraine Learned to Fight

Russia’s full-scale war started a year ago. Ukraine’s military started slashing its Soviet roots long before, FP’s Jack Detsch writes.


A German Leopard tank at a training ground in Munster, Germany.
A German Leopard tank at a training ground in Munster, Germany.

A German Leopard tank at a training ground in Munster, Germany, on Feb. 20.Morris MacMatzen/Getty Images)

Ukraine’s Leopard Tank Crews Are Trained and Ready to Fight

Advanced tanks will be critical to any summer offensive, FP’s Elisabeth Braw writes.

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