Russia is not able to capture large city like Kharkiv or Sumy - Ukraine's Intelligence

He said this in an interview with The Economist.

According to him, the timing of the offensive hinges on the strength of the defense in Donbas, but he anticipates that Russia's primary advance will start "in late May or early June."

Skibitskyi says Russia has a total of 514,000 ground troops in Ukraine.

According to the deputy head of the Defence Intelligence, the Russian grouping based on the northern border currently has 35,000 troops, but Russia intends to increase it to 50,000-70,000. Russia is establishing a "reserve division" consisting of 15,000-20,000 personnel, which can be deployed to reinforce the primary force.

Skibitskyi believes that this is not enough to capture a large city.

"A quick operation to get in and out is possible. But an operation to take Kharkiv or even the city of Sumy is of a different order. The Russians know it. And we know it," he said.

• According to Meduza, Russian security forces are convinced that the aggressor country can occupy Kharkiv, but the decision to launch a new large-scale offensive has not yet been made.
• At the same time, the Center for Countering Disinformation stated that the information about Russia's alleged preparations for an offensive on Kharkiv was not true.
• On April 1, Mayor Ihor Terekhov commented on rumors of a Russian offensive on Kharkiv and the possibility of evacuation
• On April 3, the spokesperson for the Main Intelligence Directorate, Andriy Yusov, said that Russian fakes about the "Kharkiv offensive" were an information and psychological operation, and that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had not detected any Russian strike groups.
• Pro-Russian users of the social network X (Twitter) spread the fake that the Ukrainian Armed Forces use Kharkiv as a human shield to slow down the Russian Armed Forces in a large-scale offensive, and Kyiv understands this.
• On April 27, the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration denied Russian fakes about the evacuation of government agencies and the military's families from Kharkiv.
• Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov was the first Russian official to confirm Putin's goal of capturing Kharkiv.