The Main Directorate of Intelligence predicts active fighting in Donbas in February-March
In the next two months, in February-March 2023, active fighting will take place in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The Deputy Chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Major General Vadym Skibitsky, told about this in an interview with the Ukrinform agency.
He recalled that earlier, the newly appointed commander of the Russian Federation forces in Ukraine, Valery Gerasimov, did not fulfill the Kremlin’s task of fully occupying the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. And now Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has set the task of capturing Donbas by March 2023.
– There will be active combat operations in February-March, and precisely in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, – Skibitsky emphasized.
He specified that the transfer of the 2nd mechanized division of the 1st Tank Army of the Russian Federation from Belarus is also taking place. Because of this, the intelligence does not rule out that the aggressor may again try to go on the offensive in the Kupyansk direction.
– We do not rule out that they may again try to enter our territory through the border, this is the Kupyan direction, it is also possible to resume offensive actions with the aim of returning to control the territories previously captured by the enemy in the Luhansk region, – said Skibitsky.
Intelligence predicts that the Russian military command will begin to use airborne troops more actively again. The representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence recalled that at the beginning of the full-scale war, it was under the command of Gerasimov that these Russian troops lost almost half of their personnel in the first half of the year.
Skibitskyi also warned that the Russian Federation is conducting a powerful information campaign against Ukraine. This applies, in particular, to threats from Belarus: this topic is now being actively instigated.
– They will stretch our forces, they will frighten our population… Look at how many Russian analysts who are currently working abroad talk about 220,000 groups on the territory of Belarus, and very recently they said that 150,000 were deployed there.
In fact, they are not there. The group that exists now cannot be compared with what was in February last year, – explained the representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence.
He clarified that the Ukrainian military is ready for threats on the northern border, defensive lines have been prepared, the air defense system has been deployed and strengthened (in particular, over Kyiv). Skibitsky assured that, if necessary, Ukrainian defenders will shoot down not only enemy cruise missiles in the north, but also helicopters and airplanes.
Recently, Ukrainian intelligence reported that spring and early summer will be decisive in the full-scale war that the Russian Federation has unleashed against our country. At the same time, a new “campaign on Kyiv” on the part of Belarus is considered unlikely by the Main Intelligence Directorate.
