Offensive planned by Russia for May-June has begun - Ukrainian major

He said this on Espreso TV.

"Russia will try to put pressure along the entire front line. If we talk about the mobilisation of 300,000 people in the Russian Federation, they have 200,000 almost ready and can be joined, so they are trying to create two additional armies, as Russian Defence Minister Shoigu said. We all expected and still expect the enemy offensive to take place in late May or early June, but most likely this offensive has already begun. We must not forget that the Russians mobilise up to 30,000 people every month who sign contracts, that is, a thousand people a day, and this constantly fuels the enemy's armed forces," commented Oleksii Hetman.

According to him, it is difficult to say where the enemy will take the most powerful offensive actions, because the Russians are not yet sure where they will conduct the offensive. In addition, they need to understand their forces and the means they are going to mobilise. When the enemy sees what they can gather, then the Russian army will act according to some already prescribed plan.

"Russia will constantly try to probe our defence line along the entire frontline. And where exactly will there be more powerful strikes? Most likely where the Russians are already advancing - Chasiv Yar. It could also be the Kharkiv direction, because Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said that this was one of the priority targets for their offensive. And the explanation was that they want to pull the front line as far away from the Russian border as possible to provide more security for their citizens. It is clear that this explanation is complete nonsense. However, the Russians may intensify this direction," explained the reserve major.

In his opinion, there may still be directions from Avdiivka and Marinka, and an attempt to attack Vuhledar, as well as the Kupyansk-Lyman direction, especially Kupyansk-Kuzlovyi.

"There may be an attempt to push through Chasiv Yar to Kostyantynivka, as this is also a railway that we are actively using. In addition, the enemy may try to push our troops away from the Volnovakha-Tokmak-Melitopol-Dzhankoy railway near Robotyne, which is used to feed their 'Dnipro' group. The situation is difficult. We should not expect to have time until 1 June. I am sure that the Russian offensive has already begun and will only intensify," Hetman concluded.

• On April 20, the morning report of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that 102 combat engagements took place over the past day. The Ukrainian military repelled most of the Russian attacks in the Avdiivka sector: the Russian forces attacked 31 times.