Ukraine war: Russia planning major new offensive in new year, says Kyiv
Ukrainian defence chiefs predicted Russia will launch a new offensive early next year that could include a second attempt to take the capital Kyiv, as Western allies stepped up their support with additional funding and military training.
Moscow's new offensive could happen as soon as January, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, General Valery Zaluzhniy and General Oleksandr Syrskiy were quoted as saying in interviews with The Economist magazine on Thursday.
The push could be launched from the eastern Donbas area, the south or neighbouring Belarus, and could include another ground assault on Kyiv, which Moscow failed to capture early in the invasion, the officials said.
"The Russians are preparing some 200,000 fresh troops. I have no doubt they will have another go at Kyiv," Zaluzhniy was quoted as saying.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov also said in remarks published in The Guardian on Thursday that evidence was mounting that Russia planned a broad new offensive.
He speculated this could occur in February when half of the 300,000 troops conscripted by Russia in October to support the war would complete training.
“The second part of the mobilisation, 150,000 approximately ... do a minimum of three months to prepare. It means they are trying to start the next wave of the offensive probably in February, like last year. That’s their plan,” Reznikov told The Guardian.
Both sides have ruled out a Christmas truce and there are currently no talks aimed at ending the conflict, Europe's largest since World War Two.
European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to provide 18 billion euros in financing to Ukraine next year and hit Moscow with a ninth package of sanctions.
The U.S. Senate passed a bill for a record $858 billion defence
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