Ukrainian intelligence said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the army to completely take over the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine by the end of March.
Andrei Charniak, intelligence representative of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, has indicated that, despite Putin’s intentions, the Russian government «does not have the resources to carry out an offensive from Belarusian territory».
However, he warned that there are signs that Russia «is preparing to try again to carry out operations in the east of the country» in order to finally take over the whole of these regions.
«We see occupation forces redeploying with assault groups, weapons and military equipment in the east. We have information that Putin has ordered the capture of these areas before March,» he said, according to Ukrinform news agency.
In this sense, he indicated that Russia continues to make use of Belarusian territory to train mobilized military personnel, but «lacks sufficient forces and means to launch a massive offensive against Ukraine from this direction in the coming weeks».
«Right now no attack groups have been formed. There is no real threat involving Belarus, nor is an invasion from this area possible, although there are risks we have to take into account,» he asserted.
Earlier, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksi Reznikov warned that Russia could be preparing a new offensive on the occasion of the first anniversary of the beginning of the invasion.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
