CNN —
Russia is preparing for “maximum escalation” in the war in Ukraine, possibly as soon as weeks, according to a senior Ukrainian security official.
“These will be crucial months of the war,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told Sky News in an interview aired on Tuesday.
“I am aware that the most important fights are yet to come and they will take place within two to three months this year,” he said.
“Russia is preparing for maximum escalation. It collects all sorts of things, does exercises and trains. When it comes to an offensive from different directions, I can say from today’s perspective that we won’t rule out any scenario in the next two to three weeks.”
Ukrainian officials have been warning of a renewed Russian offensive for some time and are calling for more powerful weapons from Western allies to counter the threat.
Following Danilov’s comments, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military said Wednesday there were signs Russia was preparing for a renewed offensive in southern Ukraine.
“Not only on land, but also on water and in the air,” Natalia Humeniuk, head of the United Coordinating Press Center of Security and Defense Forces of the South of Ukraine, said on national television.
Ukrainian intelligence has noticed changes in the activity of Russian naval forces in the Black Sea, she added.
“It’s waxing and waning rapidly, and the missile carriers are moving back and forth,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday it would hold another week of joint military exercises with Russia.
“During the week, military officials from both countries will practice joint planning of troop deployments based on past experience of armed conflicts over the past few years,” the ministry said in a statement.
In recent weeks, Western allies, including Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom, have pledged to ship tanks to Ukraine to help its forces hold off a Russian offensive expected to begin when improve weather conditions in spring.
Germany has pledged to initially deliver 14 Leopard 2 tanks, Britain has pledged 14 Challenger 2 tanks and the US has pledged 31 Abrams.
However, delivering the tanks and training Ukrainian troops to use them will take time.
German Defense Secretary Boris Pistorius said his Leopard 2s would reach Ukraine by the end of March, while British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the Challenger 2s should be made available to Kyiv “this side of the summer”. And on Jan. 26, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said the Abrams tanks would take “months” to ship.
Ukrainian officials have also requested fighter jets, but their request has so far gone unanswered.
On Jan. 30, US President Joe Biden reiterated that Washington would not send its F16 fighter jets to Ukraine, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said he had no intention of supplying fighter jets to Kyiv.