The Russian army intends to carry out another large-scale offensive over the next 10 days in order to capture the entire Donbass, while Ukraine has not yet received powerful tanks from Western partners, reports the Financial Times, citing an unnamed adviser to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to Ukrainian military intelligence official Andriy Chernyak, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his armed forces to completely capture the Donetsk and Lugansk regions by March..

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Similar predictions about a Russian offensive were made during Russia's annual celebration of victory over Nazi Germany on May 9 last year, but never materialized.. However, this time Ukrainian officials noticed a significant build-up of Russian forces in the east and southeast of the country..

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Most of the fighting in recent weeks has been around Bakhmut, where Ukrainian troops are already struggling to defend the city from Russian capture..

" But thanks to the resilience of our soldiers, we did not achieve success,"

Analysts believe that the likely point for a new Russian offensive is in the west of the Luhansk region in the area of \u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bKremennaya and Liman, a city liberated by Ukrainian forces during a counteroffensive last fall.. Russia has been gathering forces there for weeks, according to local officials and Western analysts..

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But Moscow is also building up its troops in the south of the Donetsk region, with additional forces being deployed to villages around occupied Mariupol..

According to Kirill Budanov, head of Ukrainian military intelligence, about 326,000 Russians are fighting in Ukraine.. About half of the 300,000 people Russia mobilized last fall received months of training, making them potentially more effective soldiers than recruits who are immediately thrown into battle..

A Ukrainian military adviser said a renewed Russian attack would likely be spearheaded by elite units: " These are real mechanized brigades, even if they are less combat-ready than they were at the beginning of the war.. They reinforced the airborne and naval units. These are not bus drivers and school teachers.

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On January 25, the German government gave long-awaited permission to other countries to supply Ukraine with German-made Leopard tanks, and also promised to transfer 14 Leopard 2 A6 battle tanks to the Ukrainian Armed Forces..

American Abrams tanks, the delivery of which to Kyiv was announced by the White House, will be able to arrive in Ukraine at the end of 2023 or even in 2024, according to The Washington Post.. Earlier, President Zelensky said that if Abrams tanks arrive in Ukraine even in August, it will be too late..

British Challenger-2 tanks promise to be delivered to Ukraine “before the beginning of summer”.