Russia is gathering more troops in eastern Ukraine and training in the Donbas

Russia is mobilizing new troops in eastern Ukraine to deliver a final blow on this battlefield after a failed attempt to invade Kiev and conquer its environs. Satellite images show new kilometers of convoys with tanks and artillery crossing the Ukrainian border at Donbas. Ukraine believes that the “final attack” may come in the coming days.

The latest images taken by Maxar’s satellites show a long convoy of Russian troops stretching along the Solo and Valuk roads, in western Russia and on the border with Ukraine. These photos are dated April 11th. Dozens of armored vehicles are deployed in fields and farms near the Russian cities of Dubrovka, Biryukh and Leonovka, just 8 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Across the border, near the road near Vilhuvatka, he saw several lines of vehicles carrying military equipment.

Earlier, the satellites captured another Russian convoy about 12 kilometers long, which had already crossed the border and headed for Kharkov, the main city in the east of the country.

The photos, dated April 8, show hundreds of “armored vehicles, towed artillery and auxiliary equipment” columns, Maxar reported. The convoy passes through the town of Welk in Burluk towards Kharkov.

In addition, two Russian military supplies and technical bases appear to have been set up in southern Ukraine and Crimea to be used to reinforce and supply troops around Mariupol, Kherson and Mykolaiv. The Z, used by Russia as a symbol of victory, is painted on some armored vehicles.

Russia faced logistical problems at the beginning of the invasion of a similar 64km convoy that occupied Kiev. It was over, the fuel ran out and the Ukrainian troops and planes were besieged.

Surrounded by maneuver

These movements of troops and equipment indicate that the Russian army is trying to break through Ukraine’s defensive lines by bypassing maneuvers. Russia will deploy its troops and attack north of the Kharkiv region, south of the port city of Mariupol and east of the Luhansk region in the Donbas.

Izum is another strategic point in the north for the implementation of this “pinker” on the Ukrainian troops. This is where a 12-kilometer convoy shot by Maxar heads towards Kharkov.

The Russian army is trying to weaken the Ukrainians from here and use this position to gain an advantage in Donetsk on the road from Mariupol to the south.

According to a recent report by the Institute for War Studies (ISW), Russian forces are focused on four axes.

The Ukrainian army also believes that Russian forces intend to take full control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and President Volodymyr Zelensky says he expects a “new total and bloody attack” on these territories.

In recent days, the authorities in eastern Ukraine – where the attacks have been since the beginning of the invasion – have called on the population to leave the humanitarian corridors as soon as possible. “It is more terrible to stay and fall asleep by a Russian shell,” Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Tuesday. “Evacuation: The situation is getting worse every day. Take the necessary items and go to the collection point. ”

Replenishment of troops withdrawn from Kiev

After their withdrawal from Kiev, Chernigov and Sumy, analysts note that Russian forces retreated into Belarus’s allied territory, as well as into western Russia, to re-arm themselves and supply amid a new offensive from the east. According to the ISW, these forces have not yet returned to the territory of Ukraine.

Retired British General Richard Barons believes the Russians “probably lost about 25% of the ground forces they started with.” In a statement to the Associated Press, the Baroness said that was why they were regrouping troops and “reconditioning” damaged equipment and then moving it eastward.

Russia is also trying to add new units and has ordered the mobilization of reservists to create enough attack force that can defeat by weight Ukraine’s well-deployed defense forces in these territories, which have been at war since 2014.

As reported by Reuters, the US Pentagon believes that Russia is trying to recruit more than 60,000 troops to strengthen its presence in the Donbas after losing about 20% of its combat forces in the conflict.

Trace German, a professor in the Department of Defense at King’s College London, estimates that Russia may have increased the number of battalions in eastern Ukraine “from 30 to 40 in the last few days”. According to The Guardian, having one front as a goal “will make it easier for Putin to achieve what can be presented as a victory.”

A different battle scene

Russia is stepping up its efforts in Donbas to reverse the course of the war and add victory in its favor. However, since 2014, Ukrainian forces have been fighting in the region where the separatist territories Donetsk and Lugansk are located.

“They have been fighting for these positions in Donbas for eight years, so they are very experienced and well-trained,” General Barons told the AP.

However, the open field may be a different arena than a confrontation in the cities, which will benefit the Russians.

The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, believes that the Donbas attack “brought another phase of the war (…) into the war of positions, outside the city, openly.” “With the media”, as he mentioned at a meeting with journalists in Madrid, which was attended by todaytimeslive.com. This new context may necessitate a review of Ukraine’s defense capabilities.

The ambush tactic by which the Ukrainians were so successful around Kiev cannot be applied to the Donbass.

Richard Barons
– Former British General

“Ambush tactics that the Ukrainians have been very successful with around Kiev cannot be used in the Donbas,” the British general said. “And if the Russians were able to maneuver their tanks, armor and artillery at high speed, they could back up Ukraine.” It will be a much tougher and bigger fight than we have ever seen before. ”

In this regard, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky demanded more weapons against the intensified attack of Russia: “We urgently need heavy artillery, heavy armor, air defense systems and aircraft,” he wrote on his official Telegram channel, in which he said. Lists of weapons requirements, including tanks and rocket launchers.

Donbass, Putin’s target in charge of the new general

Putin reshuffled his military leadership after an unsuccessful attempt to take Kiev and a change in strategy on the ground focused on the East, announced by the Russian Defense Ministry. Alexander Dvornikov, 60, is a Russian general chosen by Vladimir Putin in this new phase of the invasion of Ukraine, who played a key role in the Syrian war, in which soldiers under his command were accused of widespread insults to civilians. The population and the commission of crimes against humanity.

The Russian president made it clear what his main battle is now in this war, and in a speech on Tuesday reiterated that the Russian armed forces will achieve their “clear and noble goals” in the Donbas.

“The main goal is to help the people of Donbas, the people of Donbas who we have recognized and who have been forced to defend us, because the Kiev authorities, pushed by the West, have refused to implement the Minsk agreements aimed at resolving the peace. “Problems in this region of eastern Ukraine,” Putin said on Tuesday.

While Putin calls the war in Ukraine “noble,” evidence mounts that the atrocities committed by Russian troops after the withdrawal of their troops from the Kiev region are crimes that Putin and the Kremlin deny and qualify as. “Montage”, however, their version is destroyed by various international investigations.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova on Tuesday assured that in her investigation into the Russian invasion, she has information that “alleged war crimes are being committed or committed” in “about 6,000 places” on Ukrainian territory.