Russia may be planning major offensive on 4 regions in summer - Financial Times

The russian army may be planning a large-scale offensive in Ukraine this summer. The goal of the russian summer offensive may be the complete capture of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Regions.

This is reported by the Financial Times.

The publication, with reference to the Ukrainian military, does not rule out another attempt to capture Kharkiv or even Kyiv. After all, putin's ultimate goal in Ukraine remains unchanged - the conquest of the country and the subjugation of the people.

This, the document says, explains why russia continues its offensive operations in eastern Ukraine in several axes, especially around Avdiyivka, as well as in the direction of Lyman and Kupyansk in the northeast. At the same time, one of the Western officials said that the prospects for an operational breakthrough from both sides in 2024 are small.

"Ukraine, after an unsuccessful summer counteroffensive, is changing tactics and switching to "active defense". According to a Western official, this strategy involves not only holding defensive lines, but also finding weak points in the enemy in combination with long-range airstrikes - this will allow Ukraine to build up its forces this year and prepare for 2025, when a counteroffensive will have more chances," the article says.

The transition to such a strategy, the FT notes, is supported by Ukraine's strongest allies. In December, the Estonian Ministry of Defense published a report saying that Ukraine should move to "strategic defense" to give the country and its allies time to build an industrial base, train reserves, increase manpower and artillery production capacity to resume an offensive campaign in 2025.

The United States also insists on this approach: a strategy of holding territory and, at the same time, looking for weak points in the russian defense in order to use them when the opportunity arises.

We will remind that earlier it was reported that the Ground Forces do not record the preparations of the russian army for a new offensive on Kharkiv.

Also, the russian aggressors have not yet created strike groups for a repeated offensive into Ukraine from the northern direction.