Russian offensive may begin in April, they need week at most to move troops — Ukrainian reserve major

This was stated by Oleksiy Hetman, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, retired National Guard Major, in an interview with Antin Borkovsky, a host on Espreso TV channel.

"So far, there has been no movement of troops to any direction. But Russia can move troops along the front line quite quickly, it takes them a week at most. They used to talk about two or three weeks, but now they can do it in a week, in relatively small numbers, 100,000 troops in a week. Now there is nothing to transport them on, all this is calculated. But we should expect a Russian offensive in the coming months. Although there is speculation that such an offensive could happen earlier, as early as April," he said.

The army is at least 40,000 people. Russia already has 100,000 in reserve, they have completed a course for young soldiers, maybe even some kind of combat coordination - this is a reserve that they can already use, said Hetman.

"Let's analyze what the Russian Minister of Defense Shoigu said: he said that it is possible to form two armies. This is several brigades, battalions, he listed them. It's clear that he said it to say it, but it can be used to create a powerful group. The Russians can also increase mobilization. This will give them another two or three hundred thousand. People will be trained, they no longer throw unprepared people into battle. I am sure they will be trained in a few weeks. And most likely, these new recruits will replenish those units that were torn apart by the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the Russian winter offensive," added the reserve major.

Russian forces can attack from two or three directions, Hetman said.

"They are building additional logistical capabilities, roads to enable them to quickly transport equipment, people, fuel, oil - everything they need to conduct combat operations. I don't want to talk about where exactly, from which direction they will start their attack. There are northern, eastern and southern directions. In which of these directions the Russians will strike, or perhaps from several directions at once, because if you recall how we conducted counter-offensive actions almost a year ago, our partners - generals from NATO and other respected publications - told us that it was wrong to attack in one place, we should attack in two or three places, it stretches the enemy's defense and so on, that is, it can give more benefit, it can achieve greater effect if we attack not in one, but in two or three directions. We are also well aware that the Russians will stretch their defenses, because they listened to our advice and will also attack from two or three directions," he said.

• The day before, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia could launch a new offensive in Ukraine in late May or June this year.