Ukraine may translate its main offensive against Russian forces into something similar to what the Allies did during World War II during “Operation Cobra,” says military analyst Lukas Wisingr in an interview with iDNES.

“Many people say that the target will be Zaporizhzhia, but I am not 100% sure of that,” said the Czech military analyst, adding that the main blow of the Ukrainian offensive could be “anywhere” in the northeast of the current area of ​​operations.

The analyst believes that the Ukrainian army is preparing to follow the example from history and repeat the “Cobra operation” during the battles for Normandy in 1944.

Operation Cobra was the code name for the offensive launched by the US First Army eight weeks after the Normandy landings. Initiated by US Lieutenant General Omar Bradley to take advantage of the fact that German attention was focused on the British and Canadian attacks around Caen.

Once the corridor was established, the First Army could advance, forcing the German Army to retreat and freeing itself from the constraints imposed by action in the difficult terrain of Normandy. After a slow start, the offensive mobilized and German resistance gave way.

“The Americans there also had to cross German lines for a while and also suffer losses,” explains Wiesinger, suggesting that the main thrust of the offensive could have been directed at the city of Starobilsk in the Luhansk region.

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The city of Starobilsk has been under Russian occupation since the first days of the invasion, which began last year, and troops sent by Vladimir Putin to Ukraine entered the city on March 2. Then footage of local residents walking bare-handed in front of Russian armored columns and asking Russian soldiers to go home circulated on social media.

The Russian army completed the capture of Luhansk region at the beginning of July, taking the city of Lysyansk, Defense Minister Serhiy Shoigu personally reported to Vladimir Putin about the success.

In mid-September, amid the catastrophic collapse of the Russian front in the Kharkiv region and the general confusion of Putin’s forces in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian authorities announced that the Russians had also withdrawn from Starobilsk, information that was not confirmed later.

Located northwest of Severodonetsk, the liberation of Starobilsk will allow the Ukrainian military to attempt to engage Russian forces in the Luhansk region by advancing south toward the regional capital of the same name.

“At the end of June, it will be clear where the main direction of the offensive will be. Or, as they say in German blitzkrieg theory, ‘schwerpunkt,'” says Lukasz Wiesinger.

“At the first stage of the offensive, the Ukrainians move in different directions, feel the lines of the Russian defense and carry out combat reconnaissance,” he explains.

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