Vladimir Putin's army has been spotted moving in defensive reinforced concrete pillboxes - which is being seen as evidence Russia has "run out of strength to attack".
A picture shows a column of military trucks delivering the readymade blockhouses to invaded areas in Ukraine from Russia.
The move comes as Putin’s forces are staging an “operational pause” while also suffering devastating losses in recent days in the occupied Kherson region.
Pro-Ukrainian journalist Ivan Yakovina posted on Facebook the picture of “ready-made reinforced concrete pillboxes brought to Ukraine from Russia."
He said this means that Putin has run out of strength to attack.
Yakovina continued: "He's going to dig in. I am sure that soon Moscow will be shouting about peace and the desire to ‘stop the terrible war that the West started’.
“At the same time, Ukraine will be accused of bloodthirsty madness and senseless aggression.
“I can directly hear these cries of TV propagandists and see these articles of Putin's supporters in the West: ‘It's time to force Zelensky to start negotiations’, ‘Russia wants only peace’, ‘Kyiv insists on continuing the senseless massacre’ and all that stuff.”
He said that to prevent this the West must immediately increase the volume of arms supplies to Ukraine.
The identities of two more colonels killed in the war emerged today.
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Lt-Col Valentin Danilov, 37, was killed in a HIMARS attack on Shakhtarsk in the Donetsk region.
He was commander of military unit 47084, from Vladikavkaz and his funeral was being held on Thursday.
The body of a Russian riot police colonel Igor Murzin was also repatriated to Russia this month after he was killed at the start of the war.
Murzin’s funeral was held in the Siberian city of Kemerovo in Russia.
The deaths take the toll of dead Russian colonels to a staggering 76.
In the last three days, Putin has seen 14 colonels either killed in the latest fighting or identified as having been slain earlier in the war.
A dozen generals have also perished in the bloody conflict.
