Russia may resume military offensive in Ukraine's Donbas after operational pause: Report

As the war between Russia and Ukraine continues to intensify, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based think-tank, has released a report stating that Russia is likely to resume Donbas operations after an operational pause. According to ISW, a series of ground assaults northwest of Slovyansk along the T1302 Bakhmut-Lysychansk highway, southeast of Bakhmut, and southwest of Donetsk City indicate that Russian troops are attempting to once again resume offensive operations in the Donbas region, though these assaults have been small-scale and largely unsuccessful, it said.

The statement further said that Russia will likely continue and expand attacks in the next three days. The Russians might instead alternate briefer pauses with strengthening attacks over a number of days before moving into a full-scale offensive operation, the report claimed. It further stated that a 10-day pause is not sufficient for a force like Russia to fully regenerate its offensive operations.

"Russian forces carried out a series of limited ground assaults northwest of Slovyansk, southeast of Siversk, along the T1302 Bakhmut-Lysychansk highway, southeast of Bakhmut, and southwest of Donetsk City," the report claimed adding that the assaults suggest that Russian forces are attempting to resume their offensive operations in Donbas.

As per the ISW report, the assaults are still small-scale and were largely unsuccessful. "If the operational pause is truly over, the Russians will likely continue and expand such assaults in the coming 72 hours. The Russians might instead alternate briefer pauses with strengthening attacks over a number of days before moving into a full-scale offensive operation," the report stated.

"A 10-day-long operational pause is insufficient to fully regenerate Russian forces for large-scale offensive operations. The Russian military seems to feel continuous pressure to resume and continue offensive operations before it can reasonably have rebuilt sufficient combat power to achieve decisive effects at a reasonable cost to itself, however. The resuming Russian offensive may therefore fluctuate or even stall for some time," it added.

Russia-Ukraine war: Over 38,000 Russian troops killed, says Kyiv

In its latest update, Ukrainian Armed Forces on Saturday announced that they have managed to eliminate a total of 38,140 Russian soldiers since the beginning of the war.

In addition to this, a total of 220 planes, 1677 tanks, 188 helicopters, 3874 APV, 15 boats/cutters, 846 artillery systems, and 687 UAVs among other war equipment were destroyed by the Ukrainian troops, Kyiv claimed.

(Image: AP/Representative)