Russia is preparing to launch a powerful new offensive in 10 days’ time involving up to 500,000 conscripts and thousands of pieces of military equipment with the aim of capturing the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, according to Kyiv’s military officials.
Ukrainian officials and foreign analysts have been predicting for weeks that the Kremlin was gearing up for a decisive push to seize the battlefield initiative from Kyiv’s forces in the hope of scoring a major victory in time for the Feb. 24 first anniversary of the war.
A Ukrainian military official speaking to Foreign Policy magazine on condition of anonymity said, “We expect in the next 10 days a new, huge invasion.”
According to the official, Russia has already amassed an estimated 1,800 tanks, 3,950 armored vehicles, 2,700 artillery systems, 810 Soviet-era multiple rocket launch systems, 400 fighter jets and 300 helicopters.