Ukraine expects Russian assault soon in east

LVIV: Ukraine said on Monday it expected Russia to launch a huge new offensive soon, as Moscow shifts its focus to seizing territory in the east after its invasion force was driven from the gates of Kyiv this month.

The first EU leader to meet Vladimir Putin face-to-face since the war began, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, gave a grim account of his talks with the Russian leader, held at a residence outside Moscow.

“I generally have no optimistic impression that I can report to you from this conversation with President Putin,” he said. “The offensive (in eastern Ukraine) is evidently being prepared on a massive scale.”

After withdrawing forces from northern Ukraine, including suburbs of Kyiv lain to waste under its occupation, Russia now says its main objective is eastern Ukraine. It is demanding Kyiv cede control of swathes of territory there, known as the Donbas, to separatist fighters. Kyiv says it is girding for a new battle.

“We forecast that active combat will begin in these areas in the nearest time,” Ukraine’s defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said.

A US official said Washington believed Russia was trying to reinforce and resupply its troops in the Donbas.

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The biggest prize Russia aims to capture in the Donbas is Mariupol, the main eastern port, where thousands of people are believed to have died under a near-seven week siege. If Russia finally captures it, it could better link troops advancing from the east with those from Crimea, and shift their focus to a new attempt to encircle the main Ukrainian force in the east.

In his latest plea for international support, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told South Korea’s parliament there were tens of thousands of dead in Mariupol, a figure that has not been confirmed independently. “But even despite this, the Russians are not stopping their offensive”, he said.

Russia was concentrating tens of thousands of troops for its new assault, Zelenskiy said.

Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, insisted Mariupol’s defenders were still holding out.

“We are doing the possible and impossible for the victory and the preservation of the lives of personnel and civilians in all directions,” Zaluzhniy said. “Believe in the Armed Forces of Ukraine!”