NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that a major new Russian offensive in Ukraine has already begun.
Speaking to reporters on February 13 in Brussels, Stoltenberg said the Western military alliance saw “no sign whatsoever” that Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing for peace.
“What we see is President Putin and Russia still wanting to control Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said. “We see how they are sending more troops, more weapons, more capabilities.”
Kyiv has been anticipating a much broader offensive that could not only target the Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, but also the Kharkhiv region in the northeast and Zaporizhzhya in the southeast.
“The reality is we have seen the start [of a Russian offensive] already because we see now what Russia does now — President Putin does now — is to send thousands and thousands more troops, accepting a very high rate of casualty,” Stoltenberg said.
Russian forces have been engaged in an offensive in eastern Ukraine for months as they try to capture strategic towns and cities, including the battered city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, which endured heavy artillery fire on February 13.
British intelligence said on February 13 that despite the current operational focus on central Donbas, Russia remains concerned about guarding the “extremities of its extended front line,” which it said is about 1,288 kilometers long.
It said Russian forces had “continued construction of defensive fortifications” in the Zaporizhzhya and Luhansk regions, including deployments of personnel.
British intelligence also estimated that Russia in the past week suffered the loss of hundreds of troops per day. It said on February 13 that the Ukrainian forces killed 824 Russian invaders per day last week, which is four times more than in June and July.
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British analysts based the figure on the daily reports of the Ukrainian General Staff, but the intelligence report stressed that it could not verify the calculation methodology used to make the estimate. However, they noted that the numbers reflect trends at the front.
The UN human rights office said on February 13 that it had recorded 7,199 civilian deaths and 11,756 wounded since Russia’s invasion began nearly a year ago. Most of deaths and injuries are from shelling and missile and air strikes on Ukrainian cities and towns.
On February 11, Russia said it carried out a “massive strike” with missiles and drones on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and that it had blocked rail and land routes used to deliver Western weaponry to Ukrainian forces.
The strikes came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy returned following a surprise tour of European capitals, where he lobbied for additional heavy weaponry, including longer-range missiles and fighter jets, to help defend Ukraine and to retake lost territory.
Stoltenberg said on February 13 that Ukraine was using far more ammunition than NATO countries are providing, and called on them to “ramp up production.”
“The current rate of Ukraine’s ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production. This puts our defense industries under strain,” he said.
Stoltenberg also said that the contentious issue of providing modern combat aircraft to Ukraine would be discussed at a meeting of Kyiv’s Western backers in Brussels on February 14.
Valeriy Zaluzhniy, the commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said he held a phone call on the eve of the meeting with NATO Supreme Commander in Europe Christopher Cavoli.
“We discussed the issue of supplying international military aid to Ukraine and training our units on the territory of partner countries. He shared assessments of the operational situation on the front of the Russian-Ukrainian war and plans for further actions,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Zaluzhniy expressed his gratitude for Cavoli’s “deep understanding of the situation and significant efforts to bring our victory closer,” the statement added.
Western countries have already agreed to supply limited numbers of modern main battle tanks, including German-made Leopard 2s, at Ukraine’s request, and have continued to supply artillery, combat vehicles, and other weapons and ammunition.
Germany has started training the Ukrainian military on its Leopard 2 tanks, a government spokesman in Berlin announced. The training is scheduled to end by the end of March, when Germany is to hand over the tanks to Ukraine, the spokesman said.
Training of Ukrainians on German-made Leopard 2 tanks has also begun in Poland.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said experienced soldiers who are determined to defend Ukraine are taking part in the training, according to a Defense Ministry statement.
