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Russia to Launch New Offensive Within Days
Despite staggering Russian losses of 180,000 soldiers killed or wounded, Putin is setting the stage for a new offensive within days.
In fact, it may have already started by the time you read this.
Since the Kremlin appointed Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov as Russia’s new theater commander, we have seen a steady buildup of Russian forces in Ukraine.
Ukrainian intelligence, with support from U.S. intel, estimates that there are now more than 320,000 Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine.
This is twice the size of Putin’s initial invasion force.
What’s more, Russia also has approximately 150,000 to 250,000 soldiers in reserve, either completing training or being positioned inside Russia to join the fight at a moment’s notice.
Russian artillery barrages had risen from an average of about 60 per day four weeks ago to more than 90 per day last week, with 111 Ukrainian locations targeted on one day alone.
As of this writing — February 1st at 1400 hours Eastern Standard Time UTC5 — Russia has intensified artillery bombardments at a rate not seen since September of last year.
This week, Russia has also deployed tens of thousands of soldiers to probe Ukrainian defenses along a 140-mile stretch of the front line.
