NATO’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said that Russian forces are coming together to launch their attack on Ukraine. As per the UK reports, Russia is working to bring 1,200 to 2,000 troops from Georgia to attack with double efforts.
On Tuesday, the Kremlin announced that it would scale back military activities in northern Ukraine and concentrate on “freeing” the Donbas region in the southeast.
“The aim of pursuing a military end hasn’t changed,” the NATO secretary-general noted.
“We’ve seen continued shelling of cities, and we’re seeing that Russia is re-positioning some of its troops, most likely to improve their performance in the Donbas region,” he said.
“At the same time, Russia continues to pressure Kyiv and other cities,” he added. As a result, we may anticipate further offensive operations, which will cause even more suffering.
The UK’s Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, like Mr Stoltenberg, called Russia’s shift in strategy “not a retreat.” The UK also said that bringing in troops from Georgia had not been part of Moscow’s initial plan.
The Russian defense ministry said it was “highly improbable” that Russia intended to create more troops in this manner, and that it revealed the unexpected losses it had incurred throughout the invasion.
A US senior defense official has stated that around 20% of Russian troops have already started to re-position around Kyiv.
The official stated that the Russians already abandoned Hostomel airport. And they are heading away from the Chernobyl nuclear plant.
However, they confessed that Russia has created pressure in the air. For this, it has launched airstrikes on the cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv in the north.
According to a Ukrainian interior ministry adviser, bombs are also falling on towns and cities in the south, which has become the major battlefront. Vadym Denysenko was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying that the military is now leading air operations in Ukraine’s west.
Ukraine’s air force appealed for additional aid from Western nations on Thursday, stating that it was flying obsolete equipment that was no match for Russia’s more advanced systems, had sustained losses, and needed modern fighter jets and air defense weapons.
The air force requested that the United States send F-15 or F-16 fighter jets with comparable cutting-edge technology as the newest Russian fighters. The idea of Poland supplying Russian-made Mig-29s had previously been discussed.
The US Patriot or Norwegian Nasams anti-aircraft missiles were also recommended.