The Financial Times believes that the Russian Federation is preparing for a new large-scale offensive in the summer in the East and South of Ukraine.
< p>This information was reported by the Financial Times with reference to Ukrainian and Western officials, URA-Inform reports.
Analysts noted that the Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporozhye regions are under threat. They also do not rule out assaults in the direction of Kharkov and attempts to capture Kyiv.
«Officials in Kyiv are also concerned that Moscow may be planning an attack on Kharkov, Ukraine's second-largest city in the northeast. She mobilizes hundreds of thousands of troops and fires missiles at the city in preparation for this», — says the FT publication.
One Western official noted that the Russian chances of operational breakthroughs on both sides are small.
«This week, President Vladimir Zelensky warned of a decline in his country's air defense capabilities following Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Ukrainian officials asked their Western partners to provide more Patriot and SAMP/T air defense systems, as well as ammunition, but were refused», — the publication notes.
FT also emphasizes that Ukraine, after an unsuccessful summer counter-offensive, is changing tactics and moving to «active defense». According to the unnamed official, such a strategy involves not only holding defensive lines, but also searching for weak points in the enemy, combined with long-range air strikes.
Analysts say this will allow Kyiv to build up its forces this year and prepare by 2025, «when a counteroffensive will have more chances».
We recall that it was previously reported whether it is possible for the Russian Federation to destroy all underground gas storage facilities in Ukraine: the expert spoke about the nuances.
