Delay new offensive until 'fully prepared', Ukraine told

Czech President Petr Pavel says Kyiv no longer has element of surprise

Heavy fighting on the front line in Bakhmut has yielded few gains for Russian or Ukrainian troops. AP

Ukraine has been warned by a close Nato ally against launching a new counter-offensive against Russia before it is “fully prepared”.

Czech President Petr Pavel, a former Nato general, said Ukraine did not have the element of surprise that helped it retake territory last autumn.

Kyiv’s allies have been briefing for months that they expect Ukraine to go on the attack with newly-donated western tanks.

But Ukraine only has “once chance this year, so it has to be successful”, Mr Pavel told the Guardian during his visit to London for the coronation of King Charles III.

He said he had privately appealed to senior Ukrainian leaders not to be “pushed into a faster pace before they are fully prepared”.

“Attacking an enemy like Russia will be difficult and Russians will not be caught by surprise for the second time,” he said.

Ukraine made startling gains during its autumn counter-offensive but there has been little movement on the front line in recent weeks, with Russia still holding large chunks of eastern territory.

The Russian mercenary group Wagner said on Sunday that it had been promised enough ammunition by Moscow to keep fighting for the city of Bakhmut.

There are estimates of tens of thousands of troops being killed or wounded in the bloody months-long struggle for Bakhmut.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has openly feuded with Russia’s regular military, had threatened to pull out of the eastern city in anger at a lack of supplies.

“Overnight we received a combat order … they promised to give us all the ammunition and armaments we need to continue the operations,” Mr Prigozhin said.

He said Russian general Sergei Surovikin — described in another swipe by Mr Prigozhin as “the only decorated general that knows how to fight” — would oversee Wagner’s operations.

To the south, Ukraine said Russia was evacuating civilians from the occupied town of Enerhodar, near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Ukraine’s general staff said Russian passport holders were being moved to the coastal towns of Berdyansk and Prymorsk.

Shelling close to the plant — which the two sides have blamed on each other — has led to fears of a nuclear disaster caused by the fighting.

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said on Saturday that experts were “continuing to hear shelling on a regular basis”.

“I’m extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant. We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident,” he said.