KYIV: Ukraine’s president warned Russian troops are regrouping in preparation for a renewed assault in the east Thursday, as he dismissed Kremlin promises to scale back attacks on the capital Kyiv.
With shelling of Kyiv and Chernigiv continuing despite a Russian vow to “reduce” military activity by “a large margin”, Volodymyr Zelensky told his war-torn nation to brace for a new Russian onslaught in the eastern Donbas region.
“We don’t believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase,” Zelensky said in a late-night video message. “There is an accumulation of Russian troops for new strikes in Donbas and we are preparing for it.”
“We will fight for every metre of our land,” he said.
In five weeks of brutal fighting Russian forces have been humbled by dogged Ukrainian resistance, and forced to rethink any ambitions to sack the capital or overthrow the democratically elected government.
Western intelligence agencies have been keen to underscore Russia’s military failings, and to push suggestions that President Vladimir Putin is being misled by his own fearful advisors about battlefield reverses.
“We’ve seen Russian soldiers, short of weapons and morale, refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft,” Britain’s GCHQ spy agency chief Jeremy Fleming on Thursday, after similar claims from the White House.
Citing US intelligence, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said Putin “felt misled by the Russian military”.
Military experts believe that with thousands of Russian troops killed and many thousands more injured, Moscow has no choice but to ditch efforts to advance simultaneously along multiple axes in the north, east and south.
There are growing indications that Russia’s focus is turning to the east, and capturing more towns and cities in Donbas including the besieged port city of Mariupol, even as the long-range assault on other cities continues.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence on Thursday claimed that was the plan all along.
“The first stage of the special military operation,” said major general Igor Konashenkov, was “to force the enemy to concentrate its forces, means, resources and military equipment to hold on to high populated areas”.
* Follow us on Instagram and join our Telegram and/or WhatsApp channel(s) for the latest news you don't want to miss.
* Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.