Welcome to this week’s edition of Great Game! Last week, I announced the start of the Ukrainian Spring Offensive, and now I’m getting a lot of questions on that. Has it actually begun? Why aren’t we hearing anything? Are the Ukranians even attacking? Here’s 5 important points to keep in mind right now:

1. Yes – Ukraine is attacking

Rest assured, the Spring Offensive is underway. We’re not hearing much (I’ll get back to that), but we are getting small glimpses into what’s going on at the front. The Ukrainians are very clearly carrying out probing attacks across the Dniepr River, in Bakhmut and various other places. These are not major attacks or breakthroughs, but important steps for shaping the battlefields that will hopefully see advances in coming weeks and months as well as testing out Russian defenses across the front.

2. The silence is “by design”