Russian army capability not yet exhausted – Kostyantyn Mashovets

Kostyantyn Mashovets, Information Resistance group coordinator, shared this insight into Russia’s forces and strategy in a commentary for Espreso.

"I don’t see that their reserves are particularly exhausted yet. I don’t think that the time frame factor plays any decisive role. We can assume that they will try to achieve some results by a certain date, for example, by May 9. However, I do not think that this will be a decisive factor for them in maintaining the pace of this operation", Mashovets said.

The decisive factor should not be a certain timeframe, but the ability of Ukraine’s Armed Forces to repulse Russia in key areas. Due to the Ukrainian army’s actions, Russia has already switched to "Plan B" in Donbas – significantly curtailed compared to its initial plan.

"I think that if Ukrainian troops manage to hold the Lyman-Siversk-Verkhnya Kamyanka region, then even the Russian’s plan of bedding in will also be thwarted. Actually, I think this could become a turning point in the battle for Donbas.

Judging by what is happening, Russia is no longer trying to cut off the entire grouping in the Joint Forces Operation zone, instead focusing on part of the Joint Forces grouping in the Severodonetsk-Lysychansk area. Russia had to abandon its original plan because they could not put it into practice. Neither the Izyum group nor the Zaporizhzhya group can break through to implement the so-called "big decision", Kostyantyn Mashovets emphasized.