Russian troops in Ukraine are stepping up their attacks in the country, ordered by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The announcement comes shortly after the general staff of the Ukrainian army stated that the Russian army had ended its operational hiatus from combat.
With the intensification of the fighting, a period of relative calm in the war that has now been almost five months has come to an end. The Ukrainian army reported Saturday morning that it had repulsed multiple attacks on the Donetsk region in 24 hours and that Russian soldiers had resumed their attack on a power plant in the city of Vuhlehirsk.
Military experts from the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) say it does indeed appear that Russian troops have ended their combat hiatus after ten days. The experts wrote in an analysis that if the break is really over, the attacks will continue and expand over the next 72 hours.
Shoigu has instructed the Russian military to increase the number of attacks, with the aim of preventing any Ukrainian attacks on occupied areas in the Donets Basin. The Donetsk Basin, consisting of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, is the area in eastern Ukraine that Russia wants to conquer.
The Russian army has not conducted any major ground operations since the capture of Luhansk in early July. Analysts say the break is meant to regroup and rearm soldiers before the Russians attempt to take the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region. Ukraine’s military said this week that Russia is preparing for its worst attack on Donetsk yet.
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