Ukraine braces for Russian Donbas offensive
A Ukrainian official has told ABC News that Ukraine is expecting a major push by Russian forces in the eastern Donbas within the next ten days.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they did not think Russia has the resources to launch simultaneous offensives from the north, via Belarus, or the south, in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The Kremlin has been concentrating its resources and attacks along certain parts of the frontline in eastern Ukraine.
In recent days Russian forces have made creeping gains in and around the eastern city of Bakhmut and, according to unofficial reports, have cut-off one of the main roads in and out of the city on the Ukrainian side.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense has stated that Ukrainian forces inside the city are "increasingly isolated." Russia has been trying to capture Bakhmut for several months, but it appears that the Ukrainian's hold over that city is waning.
Two Ukrainian officials have recently told ABC News that the situation has deteriorated for Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine over the course of the last week.
The Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment on the war, published overnight, that Russian forces have "regained the initiative in Ukraine."
The ISW said it believes a concerted Russian push around the town of Kreminna, in the Luhansk region, the northern half of the Donbas, "indicates the Russian offensive has begun, even if Ukrainian forces are so far preventing Russian forces from securing significant gains."
-ABC News' Tom Soufi Burridge
