Anastasia Pechenyuk18:05, 01/30/23

The Russian Federation is actively acquiring new weapons and ammunition and increasing its own production.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) sees signs that Russia is preparing for a new offensive against Ukraine. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, speaking at the CHEY Institute for Advanced Study in Seoul, said there were “no signs that President Putin and the authorities in Moscow are preparing for peace.”

“We see the opposite. We see that they are preparing for a new offensive, that they are mobilizing more soldiers, 200,000 people, and perhaps even more. That they are actively acquiring new weapons, more ammunition. They are increasing their own production, and also acquiring more weapons other authoritarian states such as Iran and North Korea. And most importantly, we see no signs that President Putin has changed the overall goal of this invasion, which is to control the neighbor, to control Ukraine,” he said.

Stoltenberg stressed that “today no one can say when the war will end,” but Russian President Vladimir Putin can put an end to the war today. The secretary general also said that “for everyone who believes in democracy, in a rules-based international order, it is extremely important that President Putin does not win this war.”

Stoltenberg also reiterated that “most likely, this war will also end at some stage at the negotiating table.”

“Military support today makes it possible to reach a peace agreement tomorrow. But as long as President Putin believes that he can win on the battlefield, he will not sit down and act in good faith. So the paradox is that, in fact, military support for Ukraine is the best way to achieve a peaceful negotiated solution in the war,” he added.

The new offensive of the Russian Federation – what you should know

Last week, Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine , said that Russia could launch a new offensive in 1-2 months.

“The Russians are now experiencing maximum concentration, they are preparing for an offensive. This is not a surprise for us. We understand that in a month, a half or two, they will begin active operations, all the maximum resources that are on the territory of Russia are involved,” he said. Danilov.

In addition, Danilov predicted that Russia was preparing to intensify the offensive by the first anniversary of the war against Ukraine, in order to achieve at least some success by this date.

Corresponding member of the British Royal Institute for Defense and Security Studies (RUSI) Alexander Danilyuk said that Russia is going to launch a new major offensive in February. Perhaps it will happen this week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in December that the next six months would be decisive in the confrontation with Russia. At the same time, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny said that he agreed with the opinion that Russia was preparing a large number of soldiers for an offensive , including against the capital of Ukraine.

(C)UNIAN 2023