Russia likely to plan large-scale offensive - FT

Putin may be planning large-scale offensive operations on the front as early as this summer. The attacks are likely to take place in several directions. The Financial Times reports that.

The Russian Federation wants to seize more territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions. The Russian Federation "annexed" them to its composition in September 2022, - points out the edition.

In particular, the authors of the material write that the Ukrainian authorities are concerned that the Russian Federation may be planning an assault on Kharkiv.

For this purpose mobilises hundreds of thousands of fighters in the Russian Federation, and the city is bombarded with missiles. At the same time, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the air defence capabilities have been reduced after numerous missile attacks by the Russian Federation. Therefore, Ukraine needs help with air defence, - said in the material.

Also the likely attack of the aggressor is concerned about the commander-in-chief of the AFU, the authors of the material write. He said that the warm and dry weather favours the advance of the RF Armed Forces, because most of the open terrain became available for tanks. Now the main forces of the occupants are concentrated around the town of Chasov Yar. The town is being bombed with FABs and KABs.

Rob Lee, a senior fellow in the Eurasia Programme at the Foreign Policy Institute, believes that if Russia takes Chasov Yar, it could potentially increase the speed of its advance deep into the Donetsk region as part of an expected summer offensive.

For the Russian Armed Forces, capturing Chasov Yar could give them fire control over Konstantinovka, Druzhkivka and Kramatorsk. Also the dominant height will be a springboard for further offensive, he pointed out.

The article once again stresses that the Ukrainian defenders are in urgent need of shells, without which the defence of the territories will be extremely difficult.