Ukraine today warned that Russia is preparing for a “maximum escalation” of the war as Kyiv prepares for Moscow’s much-anticipated three-pronged offensive in the spring.
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said Vladimir Putin may be planning another simultaneous attack on the country from the north, south and east on February 24 to coincide with the anniversary of the start of the war.
Danilov warned that the bloodiest battles “are yet to come” and will take place in the next few months, at a “decisive” moment in the war.
He told Sky News: “Russia is preparing for maximum escalation. It collects all sorts of things, does exercises and trains.
Oleksiy Danilov (pictured), secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said Vladimir Putin may be planning another simultaneous attack on the country from the north, south and east on February 24 to coincide with the anniversary of the start of the war
Ukrainian soldiers adjust a 60mm mortar barrel near the front line in the Donetsk region on Tuesday
Ukrainian soldier Myroslav, 23, walks in a trench near a frontline position in the Donetsk region on Tuesday
“As for an offensive from different directions, I can say for now that we are not ruling out any scenario in the next two to three weeks.”
Russia is expected to have launched a full-scale attack, ordering troops south of Belarus, north of Crimea and east of Donbas to encircle and strangle Kyiv forces.
Danilov said Putin could launch his three-pronged offensive against Ukraine on the anniversary of the war on February 24. “We understand that everything is on the table,” he said.
Speaking on whether the worst is yet to come on the battlefield, Danilov said: “Of course we’ve been through a very difficult time, but I’m aware that the main battles are still ahead and they will happen within two to three this year Months.
“These will be decisive months of the war. We have our own plans and they are clear to us. They are not hidden from our main partners.’
His comments came after Ukraine’s top general Valery Zaluzhny told The Economist last month Russia was preparing 200,000 fresh troops for a major offensive that could come from the east, south or even Belarus in the spring.
Russian Army soldiers practice at a military training ground in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on Tuesday
While Germany, the US and other western nations including the UK have announced plans to send fourth-generation main battle tanks to Ukraine, they will take months to arrive.
The process could even leave Ukraine stranded without the high-tech weapons until Moscow orders its much-anticipated three-pronged spring offensive.
The US doesn’t even have a ready stock of M1 Abrams tanks for delivery yet and needs to procure part of its fleet, while German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said its Leopard 2 tanks won’t be ready until late March or early April.
Military analysts say more aid is crucial if Ukraine is to block an expected Russian spring offensive and mount its own efforts to push back Russian forces.
But Danilov is sure that Ukraine will win the war. “We will definitely win because we have the support of the whole world behind us,” he said.
Meanwhile, one of Russia’s top spies predicted on Wednesday that the NATO military alliance would not inflict a “strategic defeat” on Moscow despite sending billions of dollars worth of arms and military equipment to Ukraine.
Sergei Naryshkin, who heads Russia’s foreign intelligence agency SVR and is a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, accused NATO of upping the ante in the conflict by supplying Kyiv with more advanced weapons.
“NATO is upping the ante because it still dreams of a strategic defeat over Russia,” Naryshkin said in a television interview with the state news agency RIA, released on Wednesday. ‘But that’s not going to happen’.
His comments come as the United States prepares its latest military aid package to Ukraine, worth around $2 billion.
For the first time, the scope of supply includes missiles with a range of up to 150 kilometers.
Washington has previously been reluctant to supply Kyiv with such long-range weapons, apparently for fear they could be used in attacks on Russia itself, which could bring Moscow and NATO closer to the brink of direct conflict.
Naryshkin criticized Washington’s recent pledges of military aid, saying Moscow has “taken note of the expansion in both the volume and range of military equipment supplied.”
He said the United States and its allies are “determined to wage war with Russia to the last Ukrainian.”
Following promises by the United States, Germany and several other European countries to supply dozens of tanks to Ukraine, Russian officials including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov have accused NATO allies of taking a more active role in the war.
Kyiv and the West say military stockpiles are vital to helping Ukraine defend itself against an illegal war of aggression being waged by Russia, which deployed tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine last February, which it did referred to as a “special military operation” .’
Meanwhile, Russian forces on the front lines are making incremental advances in their push to seize territory in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk province, focusing on the town of Bakhmut, north of the region’s capital.
But the Ukrainian army today released footage of its troops launching an artillery attack on a Russian command post and ammunition depot near Bakhmut.
The Ukrainian military tweeted: “The gunners of the 28th brigade, together with the aerial reconnaissance of the 4th brigade of the National Guard, destroyed the occupier’s command post and ammunition depot.”
Having finally convinced NATO countries to supply the modern battle tanks, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government is now pushing hard for some of Ukraine’s neighbors and western allies to supply fighter jets.
A Russian army soldier fired during a training session at a military training ground in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region on Tuesday, as an instructor stood nearby
In Paris, after meeting with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said there was no taboo on supplying Kyiv with fighter jets.
The United States and Britain have so far rejected the idea, but have reiterated their willingness to continue supporting Ukraine militarily.
The West has so far refused to send weapons that could be used in attacks deep within Russia for fear of sparking a wider conflict, although Moscow has denounced the West’s recent arms pledges as provocations.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops in Bakhmut came under renewed fire, as did Klishchiivka and Kurdyumivka, villages at the southern approaches to the city, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement Tuesday evening.
Bakhmut has suffered months of relentless bombardment as Russian forces resorted to the same destructive tactics they used in June and July to capture two cities further north – Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.
Russian forces on Tuesday made no progress in their attempts to advance on Avdiivka, the second focal point of Russian attacks in the Donetsk region, the Kyiv military general staff said.
Russian forces were also attempting to advance near Lyman, a town further north in the Donetsk region that was recaptured by Ukrainian forces in October, the military said.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said on YouTube that Russian forces in the region are regrouping, bringing conscripts into what he calls a “transmitter of death.”
“We inflict as much damage as possible and they are forced to deploy new forces to keep up the constant attacks on our troops,” he said.
“Conscripts cannot keep up the pace of previous attacks… Their physical abilities are not up to the task and their motivation is much weaker.”
Russia pushed further west in Donetsk by shelling the town of Vuhledar and half a dozen other towns and villages, the Ukrainian military said. Vuhledar is about 148 km (90 miles) southeast of the main battles in and around Bakhmut.
Britain’s MoD said the Russian force in the new Vuhledar attack is at least the size of a brigade, a unit typically made up of several thousand soldiers.
In the neighboring Luhansk region, a planned Ukrainian advance has slowed and an attack to liberate the town of Svatovo has been delayed due to bad weather, the sector’s military commander Yuri Federenko told Espreso TV.
Wagner mercenaries and “special forces in Ukrainian uniforms” who could speak Ukrainian are active in the area, he said.