Russia tries to deploy its maximum resources to hold existing positions and seize new ones - Ukraine’s official

This information was reported by Espreso TV channel.

Zgurets noted that the fact that the invaders' group in Ukraine in the temporarily occupied territories is more than 400 thousand is not surprising.

"We are talking about the fact that over the 19 months of fighting, the front line has shrunk, and the number of Russian personnel currently in service has almost doubled. Indeed, Russia started attacking last year with 180 thousand personnel, now it has 420 thousand soldiers in the first and second echelons. These are not only combat units, but all military units involved in combat operations," he noted.

The analyst added that Russia's goal remains strategically unchanged - to destroy Ukraine as a state and to ensure this by military means. However, even these military means, which look much larger than at the beginning of the active phase of the war, are not enough to achieve the goals until the complete capture of Ukraine.

"Now we are saying that the enemy is trying to implement much smaller political goals with these forces: to target the borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, to restrain Ukraine's advance in the south. It is in this context that Russia's strategy is taking place. Hidden mobilization is underway, Russia recruits about 20-25 thousand personnel every month, so we have to destroy them more so that these increases are not offset by an increase in Russian personnel in general," noted Zgurets.

He also drew attention to the fact that there is a certain dynamic balance at the front, but it is extremely difficult.

"Now we see that the enemy has taken measures that, at the expense of fortifications, complicate the pace of Ukrainian advance in the south and is conducting a series of counterattacks starting from the direction of Kupyansk - Svatove - Kreminna, intensification of artillery actions around Avdiivka, actions around Bakhmut," the analyst said.

Zgurets noted that Russia is now trying to throw all the forces and means that have been accumulated to the front as much as possible in the format of the completion of the autumn campaign to ensure the retention of the borders and possibly the recapture of some new positions.

"Now we have another stage of hostilities that is entering an extremely difficult period," he said.

• On October 18, British intelligence named the main target of the Russian offensive in the Kupyansk-Lyman sector. It reported that Russia had increased its offensive activity in the Kupyansk-Lyman directions, as the invaders want to create a buffer zone around the Luhansk region. According to the guerrillas, Russia is moving equipment from Luhansk to the Kupyansk direction.