Ukraine Will 'Regain Significant Territory' From Russia—Ex-U.S. Commander

Ukraine will "regain significant territory" from Russia in its highly anticipated counteroffensive, a former U.S. Army general has said.

In a Twitter post on Thursday, Mark Hertling, who served as the commanding general of the United States Army Europe and the Seventh Army, weighed in on how a push by Ukraine to recapture its territories seized by Russian forces could play out.

Satellite images show that Russian forces have built thousands of new defensive positions in key strategic areas in preparation for a Ukrainian counteroffensive that is expected in the coming weeks or months.

"While I'm a 'former' US commander, I am also very confident in Ukraine's Army to regain significant territory and defeat the Russians in the spring offensive...but it is going to be a tough fight, and it won't be the end of the war...yet," Hertling tweeted.

Ukrainian officials have remained tight-lipped about when, or where, its upcoming counteroffensive will begin.

Retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Mark Cancian, a senior adviser for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously told Newsweek that he anticipates a Ukrainian spring offensive could start in Zaporizhzhia—one of the four Ukrainian regions that Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed to have annexed in September 2022.

"The expectation is that the Ukrainians will launch [an offensive] in defense of somewhere around the Zaporizhzhia area there or to the east, maybe heading for Mariupol or the coast," Cancian said.

"I would be thinking about, can the Ukrainians crack the Russian front lines and get past them into the open spaces to use these mobile capabilities that they've now built up? This is very much a World War I kind of problem," he said.

Cancian said the Russians have built a "very powerful, very strong, front line."

"Everyday we see pictures of it, with the Dragon's Teeth, and entrenchments, and everything else. If the Ukrainians get stopped in it or get caught up in the defensive lines, that will be very frustrating, and there'll be a problem."

"But if they can break through and use their tanks in the open spaces, then they really might be able to capture a lot of territory," Cancian said.

Ukraine's counteroffensive should start "fairly dramatically."

"They are in the same position the French were in World War One, which is they have an adversary occupying their territory, and stalemate is in effect...so they have to launch an offensive, and they don't have to leap to launch it this spring. But if they don't, I think that both their populations and their supporters will be very disappointed," Cancian added.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's foreign ministry via email for comment.

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