"Well, what we won't see is a pause," Scott Ritter, former Marine intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector, told Sputnik. "I mean, the Ukrainians and even the collective West, they’re throwing terms out there like: 'You know, it's a frozen conflict. We fought them to a standstill.' No, it's not a frozen conflict and they haven't fought the Russians to a standstill. Last winter, you know, the Ukrainians had their victory in Kharkov and Kherson. The Russians were consolidating their defenses, they had mobilized 300,000 men, and they were building the defenses. And so there was a pause that allowed [Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valery] Zaluzhny to plan an operation. They had the luxury of time to build the nine, I think they actually built 12 brigades, equipped them, prepared them for this counteroffensive, etc."