Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned of a new offensive by Russian forces in the east of the country. Russia is preparing its armed forces, he said in his nightly video address. The Kremlin had pledged the goal of “liberating” the Donbass, the primarily Russian-speaking industrial heart of Ukraine. Ukraine is also preparing for battle, said Zelenskyy. “We will fight and not retreat.” His country will pull out all the stops to defend itself “until Russia begins to seriously seek peace,” he said. «This is our country. This is our future. And we will not give up on them.”
The Ukrainian authorities called on the people of Donbass to evacuate immediately. “Later, people will come under fire,” said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, “and we won’t be able to do anything to help them.”
A US Defense Department official, who asked to remain anonymous, said Russia had completed the withdrawal of its estimated at least 24,000 troops from the northern Kyiv and Chernihiv areas. They were sent to Belarus or Russia to resupply and reorganize themselves, probably in order to then continue fighting in the east.
A Western official, who also wished to remain anonymous to share intelligence assessments, said Russia’s battle-scarred forces would likely take up to a month to regroup for a major push into eastern Ukraine.
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