Over the past month, Russian troops have significantly increased the pace of ground attacks in eastern Ukraine, according to a new report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), UNN reports.
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According to analysts, the increase in the pace of attacks by the Russians is likely due to the intention of the Russian military command to consolidate the positions achieved before the arrival of Western military aid to the front.
On May 9, Lieutenant Colonel Nazar Voloshyn, spokesman for the Khortytsia military unit, stated that the number of hostilities had increased significantly from 84 on May 8 to 146 on May 9. According to him, most of the fighting is taking place in the area of responsibility of the Khortytsia group (the territory from Kharkiv region to the border area of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions).
The UK Ministry of Defense reported that from March to April 2024, the number of Russian attacks increased by 17 percent, and more than 75 percent of recorded ground attacks occurred in the areas of Chasovyi Yar, Avdiivka, and Marinka.
The UK Ministry of Defense noted that the number of Russian attacks in the Chasova Yar area increased by 200 percent from March to April. Voloshin suggested that the current intensification of Russian attacks is the result of the ground drying up after the spring mud season, which facilitates faster mechanized maneuver, and that Russian forces are trying to take advantage of Ukraine's relative weakness while it waits for Western aid to arrive.
ISW estimates that Russian forces will maintain a high tempo of attacks in eastern Ukraine in order to achieve successes before Western aid arrives in Ukraine, which will likely undermine the ability of Russian forces to maintain the high tempo of attacks and tactical successes they have been achieving so far.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on May 9 that the Ukrainian military will be able to stop the Russian occupiers in the east, where they now have the initiative, after the arrival of new batches of weapons, in particular from the approved US military aid package.