Ukraine’s military says there are clear signs that Russian forces are getting ready for a major push in the east, where a stalemate continues despite months-long heavy fighting and intensive daily shelling by Moscow’s troops.
“The enemy is actively conducting reconnaissance, preparing for an offensive in certain directions,” Ukraine’s General Staff said in its daily report early on February 2.
“Despite heavy losses, it continues to attempt offensive actions in the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Novopavlivka areas [of Donetsk region],” the General Staff said.
Russian forces launched six missile strikes on Ukrainian targets during the 24 hour-period ending early on February 2. Four of them hit civilian infrastructure in Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, and Druzhkivka in Donetsk, as well as four air strikes and 73 salvos from multiple-rocket launchers, the military said.
An Iskander-K missile killed at least three people and injured 21 others in Kramatorsk late on February 1, police said. Authorities in the Donetsk region said the missile hit a residential building. Another attack on Kramatorsk on February 2 struck the center of the city.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the missile attack on Kramatorsk was launched to destroy antiaircraft missile systems. Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said M-270 MLRS (multiple-launch rocket system) and M-142 HIMARS (high-mobility artillery rocket system) were destroyed in the Kramatorsk region.
The Russian military has repeatedly justified its attacks on Ukrainian cities as necessary to destroy military equipment and has denied targeting civilians despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
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President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on February 1 said there had been an increase in Russia’s operations on the front in the east and said the situation “has become tougher” as the Russians try to make gains that they can show on the first anniversary of the war on February 24.
The secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov, also warned that Russia was planning a major attack from multiple directions that could occur around the anniversary of the start of Russia’s invasion.
“Russia is preparing for maximum escalation,” Danilov told British TV station Sky News on January 31.
“It is gathering everything possible, doing drills and training.”
Danilov said the next two or three months will be “the defining months in the war.”
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov referred to a transfer of troops, saying Moscow could “try something” to mark the anniversary of the invasion.
Reznikov, speaking to French broadcaster BFM, said Russian troops are massing at the border and according to the Ukrainian military’s assessment their number is more than the 300,000 called up in a mobilization in September.
Ukraine last week won pledges from the United States and Germany to send tanks to help it defend itself and has continued actively requesting more modern equipment, including fighter jets and long-range artillery, from its Western allies.
The United States has ruled out any deliveries of F-16 fighter jets for now, but other partners have indicated they are more open to the idea.
The Kremlin has warned that Western military shipments could cause an escalation in the conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to the tank shipments on February 2 in a speech at events marking the 80th anniversary of the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany in Stalingrad.
Putin, speaking in the southern city of Volgograd, said Russia had an answer for the tanks, in particular the German Leopards, and said the use of armored vehicles “will not end the matter.”
The Russian Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying that Russia was being threatened by German tanks “again” as it was during World War II, drawing parallels between the Soviet Union’s fight then and Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.
“We aren’t sending tanks to their borders, but we have something to respond with, and it won’t be just about using armored vehicles. Everyone should understand this,” he added.
Russia has also warned Israel against supplying weapons to Ukraine after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was considering doing so, including the so-called Iron Dome antimissile defense system.
Netanyahu also said he is ready to act as a mediator in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine if both sides and the United States agreed.
Israel, which has more than 1 million citizens from the former Soviet Union, has so far sought to maintain neutrality toward the conflict.
