Kyiv: Putin has ordered Russian troops to fully capture Donetsk and Luhansk regions by March
Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian troops to capture the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions by March, said the representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry Andriy Chernyak.
According tot him, there are signs that Russia is preparing for a new attempt at a massive offensive to capture the east of Ukraine.
"We are seeing that the Russian-occupation troops are redeploying additional assault groups, units, weapons and military equipment to the east. According to the military intelligence of Ukraine, Putin has ordered to capture the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions by March," Chernyak said.
Also, the representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate noted that Russia is using the territory of Belarus to train mobilized soldiers and does not have sufficient forces and means to launch a massive from Balarus in the coming weeks.
"As of today, there are no fully equipped strike groups. There is no threat of Belarus joining a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Russia’s side. But these are also, of course, risks that we must consider," he said.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that, by the one year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russia could launch a new offensive.