Russia has prepared 1,800 tanks 'for huge new invasion in ten days'
Russia has prepared 1,800 tanks, 4,000 armoured vehicles, 810 rocket-launch systems and 400 fighter jets ‘for huge new invasion in Ukraine in ten days’
- Ukrainian official estimated Russia has 300 helicopters ready for new invasion
- Some analysts believe fighting will heighten around one-year anniversary
A Ukrainian military official has estimated that Russia already has 1,800 tanks, 3,950 armoured vehicles, 810 Soviet-era multiple-rocket-launch systems and 400 fighter jets ready for ‘a new wave of attacks’ in the coming days.
The official, speaking to Foreign Policy, also estimated that Russia has 300 helicopters and 2,700 artillery systems prepared.
‘We expect in the next 10 days a new, huge invasion,’ the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Ukraine is readying itself for a Russian offensive in the Donbas.
Su-34 jet fighter of the Russian Air Force
Video grab released by the Russian Defence Ministry on February 12, 2022, shows rocket launcher systems Smerch (Tornado) during joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus as part of an inspection of the Union State’s Response Force, at a firing range near Brest
A Kamov Ka-52 Alligator military helicopter takes part in a military aviation competition in Russia’s Krasnodar region on March 28
Russia has focused hundreds of thousands of troops in the east, using brute-force tactics and human waves to eat into Ukraine’s defenses.
Amid a recent increase in fighting, several military analysts believe the Russian offensive is already underway and anticipate that it will heighten as the first anniversary of the invasion approaches on February 24.
Jonatan Vseviov, secretary-general of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Foreign Policy: ‘Something is brewing in the east. More and more Russian soldiers are arriving on the front.’
Ukrainian officials estimate that Russian forces inside Ukraine have now exceeded 300,000 following a mobilisation effort that started in September last year.
BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system
Armata T-14 battle tanks move along Tverskaya Street ahead of a Victory Day Parade rehearsal in Moscow’s Red Square
Military analysts argue that the figure may be slightly less, but it would still be higher than the amount that invaded Ukraine in February last year.
In the days leading up to February 24, Western officials estimated that Russia had staged around 150,000 troops near Ukraine’s border.
This time they would have a large concentration in eastern Ukraine.
At the weekend, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that he expects the anniversary of the invasion to bring a surge in Russian operations.
Despite the haphazard nature of the recruitment drive and the lack of training given to new recruits, the mobilisation effort appears to have deployed enough troops to stave off Ukraine’s advances, though Russian forces have suffered huge losses in the process.
Western officials estimate that almost 200,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in battle, the New York Times reported last week.
Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov speaks during a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine on February 5, 2023
In an address on Sunday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said: ‘There are many reports that the occupiers want to do something symbolic in February. To try to avenge their last year’s defeats. We see this increased pressure in various areas of the frontline, as well as pressure in the information field.
‘It is very difficult in Donetsk Oblast; there are fierce battles. But no matter how hard it is and no matter how much pressure there is, we have to withstand it. We have to use – and we do use – every day and every week to reinforce our defence at the front, to strengthen our international position, to increase pressure on Russia and to give our people new opportunities to get through this difficult time.
‘We have no alternative but to defend ourselves and win.’
Zelensky said today that ‘a Ukraine that is winning’ its war with Russia should be a member of the European Union, arguing the bloc would not be complete without it.
Zelensky made his appeal during an emotional day at the EU’s headquarters in Brussels as he wrapped up a rare, two-day trip outside Ukraine to seek more weapons from the West.
As he spoke on Thursday, a new offensive by Russia in eastern Ukraine was under way.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on following a meeting with EU leaders during the European leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium on February 9, 2023
Ukraine’s military said that over the past 24 hours Russian troops maintained offensives in the regions of Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Novopavlivka and Vuhledar.
Serhiy Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of mostly Russian-occupied eastern Luhansk province, described a major new Russian assault around Kreminna, along a northern stretch of the eastern front.
Zelensky, who also visited the UK and France on Wednesday, received rapturous applause and cheers from the European Parliament and a summit of the 27 EU leaders, insisting in his speech that the fight with Russia was one for the freedom of all of Europe.
Zelensky built his appeal around the common destiny that Ukraine and the bloc face in confronting Russia.
‘Europe will always be, and remain Europe as long as we… take care of the European way of life,’ he said.
He added that membership talks should start later this year.
EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, however, warned that ‘there is no rigid timeline’.
The bloc and its member states have already backed Kyiv with about 50 billion euros (£44 billion) in aid, provided military hardware and imposed nine packages of sanctions on the Kremlin.
The EU is in the midst of brokering a new sanctions package worth about 10 billion euros (£9 billion) before the anniversary of the war.
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