Russia increases bombing raids and prepares new offensive in Ukraine war

Kyiv While western allies are sending heavy weapons to help Ukraine In order to recapture occupied territory, Moscow intensifies its attacks on the Eastern Front. President of Ukraine, Volodmir Zelenskyysaid this Wednesday the 1st that Russian forces are about to launch a new offensive.

Both sides have been preparing for heavier ground fighting for months. During Russia While Kyiv continues its goal of conquering the entire Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, it continues its fight for the complete expulsion of Russian troops.

The Russian President’s Army, Wladimir Putin, has conducted artillery strikes with an intensity not seen since September and dispatched tens of thousands of troops to test Ukraine’s defenses on a 225 km front line in Donbass. “Russia really wants some kind of big rematch,” said Zelenskyy. “And she’s already started.”

Debris in Bakhmut, a city contested by Ukrainians and Russians: in search of a symbolic victory Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP 02/01/2023

In the city of Bakhmut, Russian forces are building pressure, sending waves of fighters to break down Ukraine’s resistance and targeting supply lines in a campaign that could secure Moscow’s first significant victory in months.

Bakhmut and the surrounding areas have become the focus of intense fighting, with increasing importance as both sides add forces to the fight. By stepping up its efforts in Bakhmut, Moscow is trying to gain the key to taking the entire Donbass after months of bombing with little profit.

Andri Yusov, who represents the intelligence branch of Ukraine’s defense ministry, said he expected fighting to intensify across the board in February and March. “We are on the eve of a very active phase,” he told Ukrainian national television.

In the east, in the city of Kramatorsk, at least two people died in a Russian bomb attack on a residential building on Wednesday. “Russian occupiers hit a residential building in the city center with a rocket,” regional governor Pavlo Kirilenko said in a Telegram message.

Ukraine and Russia have been locked in a grueling battle for almost a year. Since September, as Ukraine reclaimed territory in counteroffensives in the northeast and south, fighting in the east has stalled in muddy and frozen trenches, with each army inflicting heavy casualties on the other side while amassing insignificant gains.

But since the Kremlin appointed General Valeri Gerasimov to take command of the warAccording to Ukrainian military officials, Russia has strengthened its troops in the Donbas.

Ukrainian intelligence estimates that Russia now has over 320,000 troops in the country about twice the size of Moscow’s initial invasion force. Western officials and military analysts say Moscow also has 150,000 to 250,000 troops in reserve, training or stationed in Russia, ready to join the fight at any time.

“They are preparing for more war, they are mobilizing more troops, more than 200,000 and even more,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told journalists on a visit to South Korea on Monday.

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“They are actively acquiring new weapons, more ammunition, increasing their own production, but also acquiring more weapons from other authoritarian states like Iran and North Korea.”

A Russian army soldier carries his gear after training at a military camp in the Russiancontrolled Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine Photo: Alexei Alexandrov/AP 31/01/2023

An increase in Russian bombardment accompanied the buildup of forces. Konrad Muzika, a military analyst at Rochan Consulting, which tracks Russian military actions, said Russian artillery shells have increased from an average of 60 a day four weeks ago to more than 90 a day for the past week from 111 locations a day.

He also said that “the Russians are taking a lot of equipment out of the camp areas”. Still, he agreed with other analysts who say Russia will struggle to equip large numbers of new soldiers with tanks, armored vehicles and other effective equipment. /AP, NYT and AFP