The country seems cut in two. Unable to invade the whole of Ukraine, Russian troops have been concentrating on the Donbass for several weeks. And, according to the Ukrainian presidential adviser, they continue their transfer from the northern regions of the country towards the southeast. What raise fears of new intensive attacks. Conversely, in the North, Ukrainian soldiers are retaking territories.

Intensification expected in the Donbass

Ukraine is preparing for an intensification of Russian attacks in the Donbass, in the east of the country, a priority objective for Moscow. “We are preparing for new attempts by Russia to attack in Donbass, to somehow intensify its movement towards southern Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video published this Sunday evening.

The Russians are transferring troops from the Kharkiv region (north) to that of Lugansk, in the Donbass, with the aim of taking Severodonetsk, assured his side on Sunday evening the Ukrainian presidential adviser, Oleksiy Arestovich. The Ukrainian General Staff confirmed Monday morning that the Russian army was concentrating its forces in Izium, between Kharkiv and Severodonetsk.

"We are preparing for major offensives in Severodonetsk, and around the Lysytchansk-Bakhmut axis," Serguii Gaïdaï, Ukrainian governor of the Lugansk region, which forms the Donbass mining basin with that of Donetsk, already said on Saturday. It also described an increasingly critical humanitarian situation.

Russian troops in trouble?

According to British military intelligence, the Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine has "lost momentum" and Moscow's troops have failed to make substantial territorial gains, putting their battle plan " considerably behind schedule,” according to these sources.

"Russia has now probably suffered losses of a third of the ground combat force it committed in February," they added. “Under current conditions,” they consider it “unlikely” that Russia will “significantly accelerate its pace of progress” over the next month.

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The major offensive in the Donbass is at a standstill and "Russia is not achieving its strategic objectives", commented for his part Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO, this Sunday. For him, Ukraine can even "win the war".

Counter-offensive around Kharkiv

In the north of the country, Russian forces are now facing a counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces in the region of Kharkiv, the country's second largest city, where the latter are approaching the border with Russia.

"The enemy is concentrating its efforts on maintaining its positions and preventing the advance of our troops towards the border," the Ukrainian army general staff said Monday morning.