What Russia's top priority will be in its summer offensive, according to Ukraine's military
Illustrative photo: Russia's summer offensive will focus on three regions (Getty Images)
The Russian army does not have enough forces to advance on every front at once. Moscow has chosen two areas for an offensive, according to the RBC-Ukraine article Russia's summer offensive. What's next on battlefield and how Ukraine aims to fight back.
Defense Forces sources told RBC-Ukraine that during the summer-autumn campaign, the enemy's frontline priorities will look like this:
- First, advancing in the Donetsk region, with major battles expected around Pokrovsk, Toretsk, Chasiv Yar, and Kostiantynivka.
- Second, pushing forward in the border areas of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
Military sources told RBC-Ukraine that if Russian troops succeed on their priority axes, they may expand their offensives into the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions as well. But for now, they lack the strength to attack everywhere at once. So, one way or another, Russia will have to choose where to strike hardest.
The interlocutors in the Defense Forces also doubt the Russians' chances of reaching even the administrative borders of the Donetsk region by the end of summer. They are also quite skeptical about their capacity to occupy the entire region by the end of the year.
But the sources acknowledge that the Ukrainian army has enough internal problems and is also being exhausted under such enemy pressure.
Summer offensive
Several Western media outlets reported in May on Moscow’s plans to launch a summer offensive. According to The Washington Post, the large-scale offensive will be concentrated in the eastern part of the Donetsk region. This summer may become Vladimir Putin’s last chance for a major offensive, the media notes.
A US official told CNN that the likely offensive would aim to seize more territory in eastern Ukraine.
Putin stated on May 22 that there are plans to capture part of Ukraine’s territory near the border.
