• Ukraine posted a video saying nobody should be talking about its counteroffensive plans.
  • The short, ominous clip shows various soldiers putting a finger to their lips.
  • "Plans love silence. There will be no announcement about the start," the clip says.

Ukraine's Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov shared a short, foreboding video on Sunday urging silence about the country's forthcoming counteroffensive.

In the slickly-produced, 35-second clip, various Ukrainian soldiers in the field look to the camera and raise a finger to their lips.

The clips are followed by the brief on-screen message: "Plans love silence. There will be no announcement about the start."

 

For month, experts, politicians and media outlets have been discussing Ukraine's expected counteroffensive, after Russia failed to make progress during its own efforts earlier in the year.

Reznikov's post came a day after The Wall Street Journal reported Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as saying his country is "ready" for its counterattack.

But late last year, just before Ukraine performed its stunning reversal of Russian gains in the north and east of the country, Zelenskyy publicly rebuked officials, amid a flurry of news reports, for leaking military tactics to media outlets.

This latest video shares a cautionary message about military secrecy, underscored by Reznikov's tweet, which added a quote from Depeche Mode's song "Enjoy the Silence": "Words are very unnecessary. They can only do harm."

Beyond military secrecy, the video — subtitled in English — also appears to be aimed at reassuring Western allies, who have poured resources into Ukraine for its keenly-anticipated counteroffensive. 

Ukraine's MOD produced a rousing video at the end of May that also seemed aimed at galvanizing anticipation for the operation. 

 

Zelenskyy, in his interview with the WSJ, emphasized that Ukraine's attacks could take time, and are likely to exact a heavy cost from his own forces unless they receive advanced fighter jets.

"I don't know how long it will take," Zelenskyy said. "To be honest, it can go a variety of ways, completely different. But we are going to do it, and we are ready."

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