MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/. Western countries are actively prodding Ukraine to begin a "counteroffensive," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said in an interview with TASS.

"The fact that the West is actively pushing Ukraine to launch this ‘counteroffensive’ in spite of all the risks of its catastrophic consequences for the country and its residents yet again vividly demonstrates that the Kiev regime’s handlers and [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky himself are absolutely indifferent to their fate and that they firmly intend to continue the conflict with Russia ‘until the last Ukrainian,’" he said.

Media conjecture about a potential counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops has been rife for several months running, with various potential trigger dates being publicly mooted. Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry highlighted that such open speculation within Western countries about expectations for an upcoming Ukrainian counteroffensive only serves to confirm these countries’ direct involvement in the conflict.