Russia Gearing up for “maximum escalation” of war in ukraineLikely in the next few weeks, according to a top Ukrainian national security official.
“These will be the defining months of the war,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told Sky News in an interview broadcast on Tuesday.
“I know that the main battles are yet to come and they will happen within two to three months this year,” he said.
“Russia is preparing for maximum growth. It is making every effort, practicing and training. When it comes to going on the offensive from different directions, at the moment all I can say is that we are not ruling out any scenario in the next two to three weeks.”
Ukrainian officials have for some time warned of renewed Russian aggression and asked Western allies for more powerful weapons to counter the threat.
Following Danilov’s comments, a Ukrainian military spokesman said on Wednesday that there were signs Russia was preparing a renewed offensive in southern Ukraine.
“Not just on land, but also at sea and in the air,” Natalia Lyumenyuk, head of the United Coordinating Press Center of Security and Defense Forces of the South of Ukraine, said on national television.
He added that Ukrainian intelligence had noticed changes in the activity of Russian naval forces in the Black Sea.
“It rises and falls rapidly, and the missile carriers are running back and forth,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry of Belarus said on Tuesday that it would hold another week of joint military exercises with Russia.
“During the week, military representatives of the two countries will exercise joint planning for the use of troops based on prior experience of armed conflicts in recent years,” the ministry said in a statement.
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