Ukraine: Putin prepares to attack | GP

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov speaks Watchman that a Russian attack was expected in February. President Volodymyr Zelensky told The Economist earlier this week that he believed the attack would come as early as January.

– The Kremlin is trying to find new solutions to achieve victory, says Oleksey Reznikov.

Ukraine now has the capacity to successfully defend itself against Russian botnet attacks on the country’s infrastructure, the defense minister said, but that evidence is beginning to show that the Kremlin is preparing for a new attack.

Reznikov refers to the “partial mobilization” of about 300,000 troops carried out by Russia at the end of September.

Half of them, he says, were sent as reinforcements for Russian forces in Ukraine that had suffered setbacks on the battlefield. The remaining, about 150,000 soldiers, are being prepared for the upcoming attack, the Minister of Defense said.

It is prepared for at least three months. This means that they will most likely try to launch the next attack in February, just like last year. This is their plan, Oleksiy Reznikov told the newspaper.

He says he expects Russia to continue mobilizing its citizens, beyond “partial mobilization”. He describes the Russian army’s tactics as a “meat grinder” where they put as many people as possible into battle in hopes of overwhelming Ukrainian forces.