Russia plans new major offensive in early 2023 and may even launch attack on Kyiv
They are at it again
Russia appears to be training as many as 200,000 conscripts to launch a new major offensive in early 2023, which could include another attempt at capturing Kyiv, according to senior Ukrainian officials.
In a rare interview published on Dec. 15, Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi told the Economist that Russia's mobilization «has worked» and still posed a «problem» for Ukraine, regardless of its equipment shortage.
«The Russians are preparing some 200,000 fresh troops,» Zaluzhnyi told the Economist. «I have no doubt they will have another go at Kyiv.»
Zaluzhnyi estimated that the Russian leadership had spent around four years gathering several months' worth of resources (soldiers, equipment, and ammunition) to achieve their goals, but it wasted its potential «without achieving practically any result.»
While Russia had thrown whatever resources it had left in the Donbas, it is likely seeking ways to pause the fighting «by any means» so it can recover its troops and «create new potential» to achieve its goals, the army chief added in the interview.
Russia is also «constraining» Ukrainian troops across the battlefield not to give them time to regroup, wearing them down with heavy fighting, Zaluzhnyi said, quoted by the Economist. But the Donbas is still «a no-win situation for the Russian army,» he added.
Zaluzhnyi's assessment comes three months after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 21 declared a mobilization of troops, first since World War II.
Putin said last week that around 150,000 conscripts were already deployed to Ukraine, likely thrown on the front lines without adequate training.
Ukraine says 150,000-200,000 conscripts that hadn't yet been deployed are likely undergoing training.
Speaking to the Guardian, Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that «approximately» 150,000 conscripts are undergoing «a minimum of three months» of training at different camps before «the next wave» of a broad offensive from multiple directions.
Reznikov said it could begin in February.
Zaluzhnyi and Reznikov's comments echoed a similar assessment made by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba earlier this week, where he said at a briefing that there are possibilities that Russia will launch a «big» offensive «somewhere in late January-February.»
Moscow has not commented on Kyiv's claims.
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