After the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces forced the Russian army to retreat from Kherson, the war unleashed by the Kremlin entered a new phase. 

Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy head of the main intelligence department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, described its features in an interview with Bild.

According to him, the military leadership of the Russian Federation has now focused its main efforts on attempts to fully occupy the Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

The Russian armed forces and mercenaries of the "Vanger" PMC direct their strikes primarily around the city of Bakhmut, despite huge losses.

A representative of Ukrainian intelligence named three reasons for this continuous assault. 

"Firstly, they want to control the entire Donetsk region, secondly, to attack the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk from the south. And thirdly, the owner of PVK "Wagner" Yevgeny Prigozhin cares about his prestige. He accuses the Russian army of , that she is not moving forward, but he has nothing to demonstrate either," Skibitsky emphasized.

The deputy head of the GUR also noted that the Russian army is exhausted by the war.

In addition to large losses among personnel, Russia lacks components for some types of weapons, which do not arrive due to the sanctions applied.

In addition to modern battle tanks, it also affects aviation, ballistic and cruise missiles.

Russia is trying to compensate for this deficiency through an agreement with the Iranian regime.

"We know about the agreements between Iran and Russia, especially regarding kamikaze drones, and now also regarding ballistic missiles. Iran, fearing Western sanctions, will delay the delivery of missiles as long as possible," he said.

We will remind you that the concentration of forces and means of the Belarusian army and the Russian occupation forces on the territory of the satellite country of the Russian Federation is insufficient for the formation of a strike group.

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