‘Another go at Kyiv’: Ukraine expecting new Russian offensive early 2023

Head of Ukraine’s armed forces expects a new Russian attack on Kyiv in the early months of 2023

Russia is said to be preparing some 200,000 fresh troops possibly as part of a broad new offensive

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Anti-tank hedgehogs in the main square of Kyiv. The commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces expects a new Russian attack on the capital. Photo: AP

Published: 1:31pm, 16 Dec 2022Updated: 10:55pm, 16 Dec 2022

Ukrainian defence chiefs predicted Russia will launch a new offensive early next year that could include a second attempt to take the capital Kyiv, as Western allies stepped up their support with additional funding and military training.

Moscow’s new offensive could happen as soon as January, President Volodymyr Zelensky, General Valery Zaluzhny and General Oleksandr Syrskiy were quoted as saying in interviews with The Economist magazine on Thursday.

The push could be launched from the eastern Donbas area, the south or neighbouring Belarus, and could include another ground assault on Kyiv, which Moscow failed to capture early in the invasion, the officials said.

“The Russians are preparing some 200,000 fresh troops. I have no doubt they will have another go at Kyiv,” Zaluzhny was quoted as saying.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said in remarks published in The Guardian on Thursday that evidence was mounting that Russia planned a broad new offensive.

He speculated this could occur in February when half of the 300,000 troops conscripted by Russia in October to support the war would complete training.

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