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Russian forces in LPR poised to beat back Ukrainian offensive — chief of Akhmat commandos

It was added that Ukrainian troops were carrying out hit-and-run raids, trying to probe Russian forces’ defensive lines, while noting that the Ukrainian military was not bringing hundreds of tanks to the line of engagement in the LPR

LUGANSK, May 4. /TASS/. There are no grounds for panic in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) as regards Kiev's pronouncements about its forthcoming offensive, Apty Alaudinov, commander of the Akhmat special forces commando unit and assistant to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, told TASS.

"I see absolutely no reason for panic," said Alaudinov, who also serves as deputy commander of Russia’s 2nd Army Corps, a unit of the LPR People's Militia.

"Their [Kiev’s] Center for Information and Psychological Operations is pulling out all the stops, working at full capacity. In some places [along the line of engagement] maybe they’ve managed to ride their tanks and armored vehicles and film some videoclips. But, to date I still haven’t heard anything about them making a breakthrough anywhere," he said. "Absolutely everything is as predicted. As for us, it’s all the other way around, we are knocking the stuffing out of the enemy and have been moving forward over these days. We’re fighting as we’ve been fighting since Day 1. So. we are ready for it if the enemy is going on the offensive."

Alaudinov added that Ukrainian troops were carrying out hit-and-run raids, trying to probe Russian forces’ defensive lines, while noting that the Ukrainian military was not bringing hundreds of tanks to the line of engagement in the LPR.

"In principle, we control nearly all of the LPR, just as we have controlled it. We haven’t given up any territory over all this time. We are moving only in a forward direction," Alaudinov noted.

He stressed that the Ukrainian army was sustaining terrible losses in this area and had to constantly pull up reserves.

On April 25, the New York Times, citing classified Pentagon and US intelligence documents leaked on the Internet, reported that Ukrainian forces were planning to launch a counteroffensive in the south in May. Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of private military company (PMC) Wagner, said on Wednesday that the Ukrainian offensive had now effectively begun and its active phase could be expected to start within the next few days.

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