What Russia has been doing for the last month in terms of offensive is its objective maximum - Svoboda battalion officer Illyenko

Andriy Illyenko, an officer with the Svoboda battalion of the National Guard, told Espreso TV.

"Information warfare plays an important role and their propaganda is still quite strong. We must be prepared for more difficult and complex scenarios. On the other hand, what has been happening for the last month and a half is the objective maximum they are capable of. I do not think they will show anything more than what they are showing today," he said.

Illyenko emphasized that regarding the possibility of a Russian offensive in areas other than the east, it is almost impossible for Russia to launch it unnoticed.

"They would need to redeploy forces, conduct a major operation - this is impossible in the current environment, when all NATO satellite intelligence, and not only satellite intelligence, is working in our interests. Plus, our intelligence capabilities are also quite impressive. It is impossible to do this without being noticed - we will still learn that such steps are being taken. A company or a battalion can be redeployed relatively unnoticed, though only within a single small area. If we are talking about tens and hundreds of thousands for a grand offensive, it is impossible to do in these conditions," the officer believes.

He said that he sees no possibility for Russia to open sudden new directions of attack, because "Ukraine does not anticipate it."

"On the other hand, they are pushing every few months the topic of the new offensive on Kyiv in order to keep our people in suspense and to make us keep some reserves to cover these areas and not to deploy them to the intense fighting zone. But do not think that they cannot take such steps - they can, but we will know about it. It cannot be done suddenly and covertly," Illyenko summarized.