dpa
Kiev
Russia has “effectively” begun an offensive in Ukraine’s north-eastern regions of Sumy and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s military chief said on Wednesday.
“For almost a week now, we have been observing an almost two-fold increase in the enemy’s attacks on all main sections,” Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told the online portal lb.ua.
He said Russia’s goal remains to establish a buffer zone along the Russian-Ukrainian border in the Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv regions - an objective that Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly stated on multiple occasions.
Despite sustained losses, Russia is reinforcing its front line presence by 8,000 to 9,000 soldiers each month, Syrskyi said.
Putin previously said Russia had nearly 700,000 troops deployed along the front in 2023. Ukrainian army numbers, meanwhile, have remained steady at just under 900,000, according to official figures from Kiev.
As Kiev’s Western supporters discuss whether they could send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine without Moscow’s consent, Russia has warned that it would regard all foreign troops in Ukraine as a threat to its security.
The presence of soldiers from other countries brings “the risk of direct hostilities between the participants ... from individual NATO countries and thus the entire alliance and [Russia],” Russian Foreign spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday, as cited by state news agency TASS.
France and the United Kingdom are working on a so-called “coalition of the willing,” a European troop contingent that would contribute to the security of Ukraine against future Russian attacks.
It is unclear however when and with what mandate such troops could enter Ukraine - especially as the United States has so far refused to join the possible mission.
Drone strikes also continued overnight, with both Russia and Ukraine reporting injuries and damage across multiple regions.
Ukrainian authorities reported strikes in several areas, including in the city of Dnipro, the eastern Donetsk region and the north-eastern city of Kharkiv. Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Telegram that it had intercepted 158 Ukrainian drones overnight, affecting several regions. It did not specify the extent of any damage.
