Russia may attempt to re-enact a version of its original invasion plans, Ukrainian military officials believe, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned this weekend Vladimir Putin still has enough missiles to order more heavy strikes.
The Ukrainian president was speaking in the aftermath of the latest wave of missiles to target his country’s critical energy infrastructure after Russia launched 98 rockets at 20 cities and towns on Friday.
Officials said on Saturday, however, that repairs had been speedy with water supply restored throughout Kyiv and two-thirds of the capital now connected to electricity while the country’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv, had been reconnected to the grid after suffering a total blackout.
The infrastructure update arrived as a Ukrainian military commander warned Russia may again attempt to seize Kyiv after invading from Belarus in the north, potentially around the late February anniversary of when Putin first ordered his troops to invade.
Major general Andriy Kovalchuk revealed he could “foresee” Russian forces trying to invade Ukraine from the north, east and the south.
During an interview with Sky News Kovalchuk said: “We foresee such options, such scenarios. We are preparing for it. We live with the thought that they will attack again. This is our task.”
His assessment arrives as many analysts agree that the 10-month war has reached another pivotal stage, with both sides fighting their way to a standstill, prompting Ukrainian military figures to implore the West for more weapons to regain the initiative.
Their nerves are unlikely to have been helped by reports that the prime minister Rishi Sunak could be adopting an unduly cautious approach after having asked for an assessment of the war’s progress. Sunak’s request has reportedly prompted disquiet among some in Whitehall with military chiefs adamant that weapon supplies to Ukraine may prove decisive during the winter months ahead.
Last February Russian forces poured over the border from Belarus towards the capital of Ukraine, coming less than 20 miles from the centre of Kyiv. However the offensive stalled before Ukrainian forces launched a counter-offensive to drive the Russians away from the city and eventually over the border with Belarus.
Kovalchuk said Kyiv would be better prepared to fend off Putin’s troops in the event of a repeat scenario, adding “it will no longer be the case that they will simply walk in, as on 24 February.”
Last week the Guardian revealed in an interview with Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, that Putin is preparing for a major new offensive in the new year.
Ukrainian commander-in-chief general Valeriy Zaluzhny also revealed this week that he anticipated another large-scale assault on Kyiv early next year. “The Russians are preparing some 200,000 fresh troops. I have no doubt they will have another go at Kyiv,” Zaluzhny told the Economist.
Some analysts doubt Moscow is capable of mounting a new ground offensive against Kyiv early next year, believing Russian forces are ill-prepared, battered and weary.
Meanwhile, in its latest intelligence update on Saturday, the Ministry of Defence confirmed “an uptick” in Russia’s campaign of long-range strikes against Ukraine’s critical national infrastructure.
Among the victims of the latest strikes was a toddler who was pulled by emergency crews from the rubble of an apartment building in the central city of Kryvyi Rih. Governor Valentyn Reznichenko of the Dnipropetrovsk region, where Kryvyi Rih is located, wrote on Telegram that “rescuers retrieved the body of a one and a half-year-old boy from under the rubble of a house destroyed by a Russian rocket.”
In total, four people were killed in the strike, and 13 injured – four of them children – authorities said. The victims were “a 64-year-old woman and a young family with a small son,” Reznichenko wrote.
