Russia is preparing a new offensive in southeastern Ukraine in the spring-summer period

Russia is preparing a new offensive in southeastern Ukraine in the spring-summer period and is bringing in reserves for this purpose — another 20 000 soldiers.

This was stated by the Deputy Head of the State Security Service (SBU) Vadym Skibitsky in a comment to the Financial Times.

According to him, the latest massive missile and drone strikes are part of a broader campaign aimed at weakening Ukraineʼs critical infrastructure and preparing the conditions for hostilities.

Skibitsky says that Russia is bringing in reserves for this purpose — approximately 20 000 more troops. At the same time, Moscow wants to take control of the entire Donetsk region by September.

According to the GUR estimates, about 680 000 Russian troops are currently at the front. Separately, Sibitsky noted that Russia is increasing the production of ballistic missiles, and Ukraine has a shortage of modern air defense systems, so it cannot completely close the sky.

• On April 13, Ukrainian units announced that in order to save the lives of the military, they had withdrawn to new positions near the settlement of Myropylske in the Sumy region.

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