How Putin is preparing a massive attack with 500,000 men on two fronts – and Ukraine thinks it knows the EXACT date

It is feared that Vladimir Putin is preparing for a new attack on Ukraine with up to 500,000 troops.

Russia is believed to be planning an attack across two new fronts – pushing into eastern and southern Ukraine.

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Kyiv believes Vlad’s attack could take place around February 24 – the one-year anniversary of the invasion.

Mad Vlad is desperate to make something after a bloody first year that saw his powers thrown back.

However, Ukraine fears the next few weeks will be crucial to the conflict as it continues to demand weapons from the West.

Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov believes Putin is pulling up to 500,000 troops from the new offensive.

He warned that the Russians could mount an offensive on two fronts, pushing south and east in the Donbass.

Kyiv is preparing for the attack – but has admitted things will be difficult and warned they “must not lose the initiative”.

In Vlad’s first attack last February, his forces rushed towards Kyiv before being repulsed by the Ukrainians.

Ukraine then went on the counteroffensive, liberating vast swathes of the country from the disorganized Russians.

The conflict then slowed over the winter.

And in recent weeks it has been reported that the Russians are starting to make a profit.

Putin is likely to seek some sort of grand triumph or new operation to mark the anniversary – with his future now tied to the success or failure of the war in Ukraine.

“We can’t lose the initiative… Given that, we think so [the Russians] If they live on symbols, they can try something around February 24,” Reznikov said.

He spoke of around “500,000” soldiers that Putin had mobilized.

The minister explained: “They officially put it at around 300,000, but when we see their troops at the borders, our estimates are many more.

“[They] can carry out an offensive on two fronts: it can be the Donbass, and it can be the south.”

These months will shape the war

Oleksiy Danilov

He added: “We are telling our partners to be prepared as soon as possible.

“That’s why we need weapons to deter the enemy, because in war initiative decides everything.”

It comes after NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned this week that the Russians were preparing for a new all-out attack.

He put the number at around 200,000 men – and previous reports from Russian media suggested the attack could involve as many as 700,000 soldiers.

The Institute for the Study of War issued an update and said it believes Putin will not stage a previously speculated attack on western Ukraine from Belarus.

But they suggested that Vlad might be preparing for smaller raids on northern Ukraine to weaken their defenses ahead of the new offensive.

The think tank previously claimed an “immediate” Russian offensive on the war-torn nation was “the most likely course of action.”

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“These will be crucial months of the war,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told Sky News.

“I’m aware that the main fights are yet to come and they will happen within two to three months this year.”

“Russia is preparing for maximum escalation. It collects all sorts of things, does exercises and trains.

“As far as an offensive from different directions is concerned, I can say from today’s perspective that we will not rule out any scenario in the next two to three weeks.”

Ukrainian official Natalia Humeniuk also noted that they are preparing for a new attack from the south.

“Not only on land, but also on the sea and in the air,” she said.

Kremlin troops have reportedly evicted Ukrainian civilians from their homes in the eastern regions while rallying their military might.

GUR representative Andrii Yusov told Ukrainian television that the country is on the eve of a “very active phase of the war”.

He added: “Both February and March will be intense.

“The skill and motivation of the Ukrainian soldiers, as well as their equipment and weapons, both domestic and [those sent as] Help from international partners will eventually turn the tide of these offensive actions.”

Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian soldier has urged Russian forces to abandon their posts before they are killed in Mad Vlad’s war of aggression.

Lieutenant General Yuriy Sodol, Chief of the Naval Infantry of Ukraine, said: “I will address the Russian military separately: run before it’s too late and return to your ‘Maruskas’. [Russian women] or surrender, else it is the fate of a manure on someone else’s land; A black bag or disability awaits you, this is your “happy” future.

“Unlike you, we know what we are fighting for, we are united, we are one.

“We will do everything to ensure that the blue and yellow flag flies again in all cities of Donbass and Crimea.”

Lieutenant General Sodol also predicted that thousands of Russian troops would invade in the coming months.

Moscow’s response was to accuse NATO of mobilizing all of its military infrastructure, even satellites, against Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the move created “very peculiar, hostile conditions” for Russia and his government took note.

However, the country’s troops appear to be fidgeting on the battlefield, according to a leaked phone call between front-line troops.

One soldier called the campaign a “meat grinder” and that basic supplies like water were heavily rationed.

Ukraine has detailed the “war chest” of new weapons the West is expected to provide to counter the attack, but the US has failed to send F-16 fighter jets.

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told reporters it was “not the right approach” to send jets, but said no “sound decision” had been made.

Likewise, Moscow’s mouthpiece Peskov warned that long-range missiles, which are believed to be included in an upcoming US support package for Ukraine, would “escalate” the conflict.

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