LUGANSK, May 4. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces will have no troops left with which to resist the Russian military after waging its much-vaunted spring counteroffensive, Apty Alaudinov, commander of the Akhmat special forces commando unit and aide to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, told TASS.

"We have long been aware that the enemy is preparing these forces and materiel. I believe that what they have amassed for the so-called counteroffensive represents the very last dribs and drabs [of manpower] that Ukraine can field. At the end of the day, after we grind this counteroffensive of theirs down, I think that they will have no one left to call up and send off to do battle with us. We will gradually move forward then," Alaudinov pointed out.

He added that Russian forces had no need to make any breakthroughs and send troops off to die. "We are slowly and steadily doing our job. My prediction is that the entire Ukraine saga will be wrapped up in 2024. Approximately by August or September," the commander said.

The New York Times reported on April 25, citing leaked Pentagon and US intelligence documents, that Ukrainian forces were planning to launch a counteroffensive in the southern direction in May. Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of private military company (PMC) Wagner, said on Wednesday that the Ukrainian armed forces’ offensive had effectively begun and could enter the active phase in the very near future.