The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), in its latest analysis of the situation in Russia's war against Ukraine, pointed to assessments by Ukrainian officials about Russia's preparations for launching a large-scale decisive offensive in eastern Ukraine from mid-February to the end of the month.
In particular, Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov assumed on February 5 that the Russians would launch a new decisive offensive at the end of the month to symbolically link it to the first anniversary of the outbreak of a full-scale war. At the same time, separate mouthpieces of Russian nationalists express doubts about Russia's ability to launch a successful attack at the end of February.
According to analysts, both observations indicate that the Russian military command is most likely in a hurry to launch a decisive attack before the arrival of Western military aid.
