Russian President

Vladimir Putin

personally set deadlines for the capture of the entire Donbass 14 times, but the occupiers are stuck near Bakhmut and suffer heavy losses every day.

In an exclusive interview with TSN.ua, ex-director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine

Mykola Malomuzh

told about this .

"

Putin has already personally set 14 deadlines for the capture of Donbas

. The first deadline is decisive. He likes to give symbolic dates, it was May 9, 2022. Nothing has been implemented. He has already changed 12 commanders of various types - not only of the combined forces, but also of the armies and directions. Nothing works out. He always blames the military, the generals. Now Prigozhin is also to blame for the fact that he promised to capture Bakhmut by the new year and move on to capture the entire Donetsk region," said the ex-intelligence officer.

According to him, the Russians have now thrown all their forces at Soledar in order to surround Bakhmut, but it is not completely successful.

"Even at the expense of superior forces, losing at least 800 people a day, they are trying to push through the situation. We are entrenched on the outskirts of Soledar, we do not allow them to enter from the rear of the Bakhmut group, we are strengthening our positions. This is the prospect of a powerful grinding of their armed forces.

It is especially valuable that they are professionals - there are not so many "mobs", but representatives of "Wagner", fewer convicts and more professional soldiers, and airborne troops, marines. This is the elite of Russia, there are relatively few of them left

, "the expert emphasized.

Malomuzh predicts that the Armed Forces will continue to hold positions, especially near Bakhmut, and "devalue" the units of the occupiers:

"

If there are 700-800 per day (losses - ed.), in tens of days there will be tens of thousands, and this reserve will be exhausted

. Due to the newly mobilized, it is almost impossible to complete these tasks," he noted.

It will be recalled that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces 

Valery Zaluzhnyi

 warned that the Russian Federation was preparing for a new offensive against Ukraine.

According to him, for this purpose, Putin is gathering groups of up to 200,000 troops, which he can launch into the offensive in January-February, or in the spring.

Kyiv may be under threat.

In turn, Russian Defense Minister 

Serhiy Shoigu

 confirmed preparations for new offensive actions in Ukraine.

As Shoigu explained, it was for this that the Russian Federation carried out a partial mobilization.

Military expert 

Oleksandr Musienko

 predicted the possible directions of the Russian attack.

"They can concentrate their forces somewhere in the Kursk, Bryansk, or Belgorod regions, from there try to enter Luhansk region and Kharkiv region, try to take Luhansk region, Donetsk region completely, and from the Zaporizhia direction as an auxiliary, go on raids to prevent us from advancing. Just keep Belarus as factor of constant psychological pressure and threat. The goal is to hold the territories, if lucky - to advance further," the expert said.

Military expert 

Dmytro Snegiriov

 emphasizes that the Russian army considers the Donetsk region as a priority for a new major offensive.

The expert noted that primarily mobilized Russians will take part in the offensive.

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