Odesa, Lviv, Kyiv: Colonel Grant on Russia's terrible plans for winter

He said this in an interview with Anton Borkovskyi, host of the Studio West program on Espreso TV. 

"I'm not sure exactly where this year they will attack but they're obviously going to focus on one or two of the major cities to try and destroy the infrastructure there. I'm sure that Odesa, Lviv and Kyiv will be hit as hard as possible because those are all hubs for more activity. Lviv for coming in from Poland and then of course Odesa for the wheat and any agriculture in the winter and Kyiv because it's Kyiv. Ukrainians need to prepare for powerful attacks," he said.

However, this will not have the effect that Russia would like, because Ukrainians are now better prepared psychologically. Also, Ukrainian energy companies are much better prepared for this war than they were last year. Therefore, this strategy will not work, Grant believes.

"Of course it's going to be very difficult especially for those people living in the gray zone behind Kharkiv, where there are no shops anymore, and they are reliant completely upon volunteer aid. I have to say a lot of volunteer aid from Europe is coming in just bringing basic needs for people. So they will continue to attack the gray zone as much as they can. But then going deeper and deeper," the military expert added.

• On 24 November, the spokesman for the Air Force Command, Yuriy Ihnat, said that Russia had probably accumulated up to 900 long-range precision missiles that could be used to strike Ukraine in winter. The occupiers were producing up to 100 of them per month.