Ukraine will be able to regain control over the occupied Crimea until August 2023. So says former commander of the US Army in Europe, General Ben Hodges.

According to Newsweek, the American military voiced his forecast amid reports that Ukrainian troops attacked a hotel in which Russian mercenaries of the PKK Wagner lived.. Many died. Hodges is convinced that Ukraine will "

He explained that in this way Kyiv will create conditions for the liberation of Crimea from Russian occupation.. And the operation to retake the peninsula will be the "

“I expect them to liberate Crimea by August,” Hodges tweeted..

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Recall that General Ben Hodges is not the first time gives forecasts. Earlier, he expressed his conviction that by the end of the year the Armed Forces of Ukraine would be able to push the Russian troops to the lines that existed before February 24.. And already in the middle of 2023, in his opinion, the Ukrainian army could enter the territory of the occupied Crimea.

In turn, in an article for Foreign Affairs, Lina Fix, an employee of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, and Michael Kimmage, a professor of history at the Catholic University of America, who also previously worked at the US State Department, wrote that Ukraine has reasons not to rush to liberate Crimea.. They admit that the battle for the peninsula is quite possible. However, there are at least three challenges that should make Kyiv postpone this operation..