CNN
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A Ukrainian national security official said Russia is gearing up for a “maximum escalation” of the war in Ukraine, which could be as early as weeks.
“These will be the decisive months of the war,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday.
“We are aware that the major matches are yet to come and will happen within the next two to three months this year.
“Russia is preparing for the biggest escalation. We are drilling and training, we are gathering everything we can. I can’t say I ruled it out.”
Ukrainian officials have been warning for some time that the Russian offensive will resume and are demanding more powerful weapons from their Western allies to counter the threat.
Following Danilov’s comments, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said Wednesday there were signs that Russia was preparing a new offensive in southern Ukraine.
![A Russian Mi-28 military helicopter is pictured in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine on January 19.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230201125109-01-russia-maximum-escalation.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_270,w_480,c_fill)
“Not only on land, but also at sea and in the air,” Natalia Khmeniuk, head of the Joint Coordination Press Center of the Security and Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine, told state television.
Ukrainian intelligence has seen changes in Russian naval activity in the Black Sea, she added.
“It goes up and down quickly, the missile carrier moving back and forth,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Belarusian Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday that it will hold joint military exercises with Russia for another week.
“This week, military representatives from both countries will implement a joint plan on the use of their forces based on their experience in recent armed conflicts,” the ministry said in a statement.
In recent weeks, Western allies, including Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom, have sent tanks to Ukraine to help Ukrainian forces fight back against Russian attacks, which are expected to improve in spring. promised to send
Germany committed to deliver the first 14 Leopard 2 tanks, Britain committed 14 Challenger 2 tanks, and the United States committed 31 Abrams.
But transporting tanks and training the Ukrainian army will take time.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the Leopard 2 would arrive in Ukraine by the end of March, while British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the Challenger 2 should be delivered to Kyiv “this time of the summer”. rice field. And she said on Jan. 26, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said delivery of the Abrams tanks would take “months.”
Ukrainian officials have also requested fighter jets, but their pleas have so far gone unanswered.
On January 30, US President Joe Biden reiterated that Washington would not send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said he would not consider sending fighter jets to Kyiv.