Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday warned that Russia is amassing troops and that a major Russian offensive is coming.
“Now Russia is concentrating its forces. We all know that. It is preparing to try to take revenge, not only against Ukraine, but against a free Europe and the free world,” Zelensky said alongside European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who was in Kyiv ahead of an EU summit in the city.
A Russian winter offensive has been expected as Moscow has reinforced its positions since it mobilized 300,000 fresh troops. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksi Reznikov claimed that the Russian troop buildup consists of 500,000 troops.
“Officially, they announced 300,000, but when we see the troops at the borders, according to our assessments, it is much more,” Reznikov told French media on Wednesday.
While Russia has yet to launch a major offensive, Russian and Ukrainian forces have continued to battle it out in the eastern Donbas region, mainly around the Donetsk city of Bakhmut.
Russian forces have been making gains around the city, and US and other Western officials have acknowledged that Ukraine has been taking heavy losses in the battle and that Russia will likely take the city.
Any future Russian offensive would likely focus on Donetsk, as Russian officials have made clear throughout the war that their priority is to “liberate” the Donbas. The region has been at war since 2014 when the US-backed ousting of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych sparked a Ukrainian civil war.
This potential escalation by Russia could lead to major problems.
“Major problem…..??? For whom……??????? Certainly not for the people in the Donbas, who have been getting bombed and shot since Uncle Sam’s adopted Nazi filth have been killing them as a daily routine. Perhaps their Nazi tormentors will flee back to Germany to avoid being cleansed by the fresh troops…!!!!!
1000s of thanks to Dave DeCamp for this article and all of his hard work keeping all us antiwar dot com followers and fans up to date on news from the antiwar perspective that we need, because the mainstream news is propagandized to such an extent that one can learn more listening to ducks in the park. I find his Antiwar Updates to be as perfect as can be in substance and tone too. I hope he changes nothing and keeps them coming until this awful war ends
I agree regarding Dave’s new articles. There has been a palpable change in terms of clarity and thoughtfulness. There is more recognition, challenge, and avoidance of CIA talking points in favor of more antiwar views. Congratulations, Dave and antiwar!
Yes. And it looks the US will deal with these problems by sending stripped down tanks and old F-16s manned by Ukrainians who will mostly die if they see combat.
NATO will also likely send a large army to man the borders between Ukraine and the rest of Europe.
This actually makes sense from the US side. Russia right now has territory where the people LOVE Russia. Blowing up Russian assets there comes across as terrorism, not freedom fighting.
West of Kiev is where people HATE Russia. And where supply line issues are not so favorable to Russia.
If this is how we deal with this problem, then *** DONNA IS WRONG ***. No nukes launched!!!
Well, DUH, Kenneth.
If ZelBoy is fearful of a major Russian escalation, one with half a brain might maintain that this is a very good time indeed for negotiations.
He ain’t getting Crimea back, and certainly not the areas that have voted to join the Russian Federation. If he hadn’t been such a butcher, this sh*tshow would never have occurred; rather, his actions are what implemented Russia’s special ops, and he ( along with Cookies Nuland and Co) are whom to blame for the destruction of his country. Let’s toss our Cadaver in Chief in there as well. And the rest of the Zionazi Cabal.
The leaders we support are so corrupt. How corrupt are they? They are so corrupt that they put the entire word of “corrupt” in “corruption.”
“It is preparing to try to take revenge, not only against Ukraine, but against a free Europe and the free world,” …. yeah, they just hate us for our freedom. It never gets old, does it? And after Russia spent months amassing forces, probably for a reason, watch their offensive get labelled a surprise attack. But, to be fair, Zelensky is just moving product. They wouldn’t say it if it didn’t work.
Meanwhile the US talk was of Summer Offensive with all this time needed by Russia to re-set. That was projection of the needs of the US and Ukraine to re-set.
The self-delusion of the US leadership is the defining characteristic of this.
I think the self-delusion is at least in part face-saving rhetoric. Hard for me to believe that our senior military (the ones who have a notion of what war is) haven’t been keeping these politicians informed.
Murphy’s Law prevails in military equally with politics; and the requisite skills are ignorance, lying, and boot-licking.
I fear that the ‘senior military’ is as delusional as the rest.
Zelensky warns, Zelensky lectures, Zelensky demands, Zelensky orders, ….
Biden has already prepared his Junior Suite in DC for his government in exile.
Ze-hrenski pops in the near future, hopefully ..
“Zelensky Warns Major Russian Offensive Is Looming Ukraine’s defense minister claims Russia has amassed 500,000 troops”
Captain Obvious just noticed that Russia might be going all the way to Kiev and Western Ukraine.
It is so hard to act the little corporal in the Berlin bunker dressed in a green tee shirt; when he is busy being part of the glitterati cabal of globalists.
As much as I detest Joey Biden and the EU politicians, I do feel empathy for the many young Ukrainian men who are cannon fodder just to make Zelensky look the part of a war time leader.
When Zelensky is hiding in Florida I wonder if the ghosts of 200,000 dead Ukrainian boys will haunt him. Probable not: Evil made in Hollywood Zelensky has no morals or ethics he is just an actor.
Agreed. His demonic friends will keep the ghosts away, unless he gets suicided.
“Captain Obvious just noticed that Russia might be going all the way to Kiev and Western Ukraine.”
My guess is that they’ll go for Odessa first. They just turned out the lights there last night with a massive blast at their power plant.
Come to think about, short of a false flag operation to drag NATO into Ukraine, I don’t see a single tank to cross into Ukraine in the future.
This dialogue from Vlad is getting tiresome. I’m so sick of the “evil Russians against free Europe and the world” bull$hit this two-bit, wannabe, puppet-actor spews.
He seriously needs to STFU and realize how screwed he really is. ‘Gimme tanks, gimme F-16s, gimme, gimme, gimme!!!” This attitude that ‘we can do anything and that they’re master improvisers of modern warfare’ is fallacy.
Russia, really? Crimea, really? Watch out for that bear when he really gets rolling.
For that dictator to talk about “free world” and a free Ukraine is preposterous.
Thomas, Dave DeCamp and everyone, I keep forgetting: SouthFront is widely denounced by US and Western governments and other entities as “Russian disinformation.” The US Treasury Department claims that it is controlled by the Russian federal security service (the FSB) and has imposed sanctions on it. Just be aware.
More problematic, in my view, is that SouthFront’s maps seriously suck. They are extremely difficult to read. No one with the most basic understanding of good GIS map practices would let them see the light of day.
Much better maps of the fighting in Ukraine are produced by the pro-Kiev site liveuamap.com. Representations of the situation on the ground are usually nearly identicalto SouthFront’s and the Kiev fans publish maps normal human eyes can read.
Take a look.
Just for the record, I don’t select Antiwar.com’s sources for stories, facts, maps, etc. At the news reporting level my involvement is some light (very light) proofing and, as any reader can do here, submitting links for consideration/use.
Yes, I know, Thomas. I just wanted everyone to be aware of this.
The + icon on SouthFront’s map makes it considerably easier to read. It also appears to show terrain detail. This is not an endorsement of their map
Hmm. I literally cannot understand how it could be easier to read. Yes, SouthFront’s map is based on a satellite view, but I find the imagery nearly impossible to interpret through the colored shading.
The war-related information and the status of contested territory seems, on those occasions when I compare, to be more or less the same as liveuamap.com.
Zelensky acts as if he is the real Commander in Chief. He tells NATO what it has to deliver. The Clown in Chief tells the senile Commander in Chief what he has to do. They just play war like kids in a sand box.
It is surreal.
The model is Winnie & Frank and Lend Lease. Zelensky is even trying (failing)to deepen his voice like the Great Bulldog, and with the invariable infamous epithet “Bugger on!” …only the cigar and cigarette cum holder are lacking … likely judged too unsubtle.
I have a visual of them moving their little plastic soldiers around 😉
I have been following US Army Col Douglas McGregor for the last two or three months. McGregor is a brilliant analyticus of the US/NATO proxy war in Ukraine. His talks can be found on my Facebook and UTube. It looks very much that McGregor analysis are becoming true , when already months ago he predicted that the big Russian assault will eventuate in January, February or March when the ground is solidly frozen. I Strongly recommend following him.
Also, the Ukraine Military Summary and Analysis on Youtube covers the day to day developments in detail. He uses both the Southfront map and the pro Ukraine map.
Looming?