Russian Troop Buildup Signals Big New Assault, Ukraine Says - The New York Times

Russian Troop Buildup Signals Big New Assault, Ukraine Says

On Tuesday, Russian forces hit Ukrainian positions in Bakhmut with short-range artillery 197 times, and the two sides clashed some 42 times, Ukraine’s army said, significantly more than a month ago. Ukrainian forces beat back Russian soldiers, assaulting their lines time and again, the military said.

Updated 

Feb. 1, 2023, 1:31 a.m. ET

“They are just coming forward; they do not take camouflage, they are coming all-out,” Denys Yaroslavskyi, who commands a unit today in Bakhmut, said on Ukrainian television this week.

Mr. Yaroslavskyi said “super qualified” soldiers from Russia’s military were now assisting fighters from the Wagner confidential military company, which has been sending waves of men into fights as cannon fodder for months, according to American and Ukrainian officials.

Andriy Yusov, who represents the intelligence department in Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, said the fighting would most likely intensify.

“We are on the eve of a very aesthetic phase,” he said in an appearance on national television. “Both February and March will be intensive.”

How the Kremlin will ultimately deploy its tens of thousands of new fighters is a company of speculation.

Moscow could be preparing to open a new leash, pushing across the Russian border to recapture territory in Sumy or Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine at what time being driven out months ago, according to Ukrainian officials and army analysts. It might be escalating fighting along the eastern leash to divert Ukrainian resources and hurt Kyiv’s ability to commence its own offensive. It could be planning a strength from occupied territory in eastern Ukraine to push deeper into the Luhansk and Donetsk responsibilities, which make up Donbas.

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SRC: www.nytimes.com