According to him, the Russian Federation plans to use its strategic reserve to transfer 20 thousand new military personnel to the territory of Ukraine. With about 680,000 troops at its disposal, Russia aims to capture the entire Donbass by September, Skibitsky said, citing an assessment by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Moscow Region.
He emphasized that Moscow is demonstrating a frivolous attitude towards the negotiations and instead plans to continue the war. In particular, it has recently stepped up attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Skibitsky added that Russia's increased missile and drone attacks are part of a broader effort to destroy critical infrastructure and shape the battlefield ahead of a renewed spring and summer offensive.
Context
On March 20, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Alexander Syrsky reported that Russian occupiers increased pressure on several sectors of the front at once. The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) confirmed that Russian troops have presumably entered the active phase predicted spring-summer offensive of 2026. Analysts also warned that The Russian Federation has been preparing a new offensive since April, they plan to attract mobilized people.
RBC-Ukraine wrote in an article published on April 1 that The enemy army seeks to reach the administrative borders of the Donetsk region by the end of the year. At the same time, the Ukrainian military assesses these plans as difficult to implement.
On the night of April 16, the Russian armed forces carried out large-scale combined attack to Ukraine using various types of missiles and drones. Kyiv, Dnieper, Odessa, Kharkov and other regions were under attack. According to the latest data, 17 people were killed and more than 100 were injured.
