Putin plotting ‘final killer offensive' to attack Ukraine on 3 fronts to win war – even as his losses near ONE MILLION

Scottish Sun

20 hours ago

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VLADIMIR Putin is plotting a final killer offensive along three fronts to win the war, a new report claims.
It comes as the Russian army nears one million casualties in its bungled three-year-old invasion and peace talks stall.
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Ukrainian troops fire at Russia in Donetsk
Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
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Ukrainian soldiers take cover as they fire a canon towards Russian positions in Kharkiv
Credit: AFP
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Russia has been attacking the Donetsk city of Kramatorsk since the beginning of the war
Credit: Getty
The tyrant is still looking for a knockout blow despite initially saying he would win the war in a matter of days.
Putin is hoping to change that this summer, with a widely expected fresh offensive to begin.
Some 125,000 Russian soldiers are reportedly massing along the Sumy and Kharkiv frontiers, according to Ukraine's military intelligence.
Over the past fortnight border villages have fallen to Russia as it is believed to be preparing the ground for the invasion.
But some senior commanders in Ukraine believe that could be a feint and Russia is actually preparing to attack further south to push further into the Donbas, Ukraine Pravda reports.
Russia is likely to attack through three areas near each other in the Donbas - Kramatorsk, Kostiantynivka, and Pokrovsk.
Vlad already controls more than 95 per cent of Luhansk, but capturing Donetsk would cement his control over the Donbas region and achieve a war aim, albeit a scaled-down one.
The Donbas is an important industrial and mining area - and some 200,000 to 300,000 people still live in four cities controlled by Ukraine.
Moscow's military planners will be weighing up whether they want to fight through the cities like they did in Bakhmut or encircle them by going around through farmland.
Kramatorsk is the closest city to the front line and is under constant attack by Russia.
Clearest vid yet of daring Op Spiderweb shows 35 Ukrainian bomb drones blowing up plane after multimillion dollar plane
A recent drone strike managed to get inside an armoured vehicle carrying Ukrainian soldiers.
Russia has an opportunity to conduct a pincer movement around Kostiantynivka with its soldiers controlling land to the east and west of the city.
Instead of attacking the city directly, the could bypass it and attack Druzhkivka behind it - thereby cutting Kostiantynivka and any Ukrainian soldiers still there off.
In nearby Pokrovsk, Russia already has a salient, a bulge, out from the front line after a previous advance.
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Ukrainian soldiers fly a drone near Pokrovsk
Credit: Getty
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Members of Ukraine's White Angel police unit evacuate people from Pokrovsk
Credit: Reuters
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Ukraine reports also daily contact with Russian troops in the area.
The Pokrovsk front line is also very near Dnipropetrovsk Oblast - a region of Ukraine the Kremlin hasn't yet officially claimed.
A successful breakthrough there might mean Putin can actually expand his war goals.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is prepared for a summer offensive and has publicly said Russia is set to escalate the war.
His officials believe peace talks are a ruse - with Putin only wanting to talk to demand the terms of surrender.
The Ukrainians will not give in and any advance by Russia is going to come at a high cost.
Vlad's army has been making incremental gains along the front line, with troops overwhelming Ukraine in meat grinder assaults.
But for that Russia has suffered 434,000 dead and wounded in the last year, 270 for every square mile they have seized.
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Residents ride bicycles at a street near buildings in Pokrovsk
Credit: Reuters
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Firefighters extinguish a fire in Kostiantynivka
Credit: Getty
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Ukrainian firefighters battle a blaze after a building was bombed by Russians
Credit: Getty
Ukraine has used drones and Western-supplied arms to grind the Russians down into a WW1-style trench war.
But observers worry a massive new Russian offensive could break the deadlock.
Moscow has spent the winter recruiting more troops, improving tactics, and enhancing their drones.
An offensive likely won't use tanks, Polish military analyst Konrad Muzyka told the Telegraph.
He said, instead, Russian troops were advancing using lighter motors.
Muzyka said: 'Any large-scale deployment of armour is going to be destroyed relatively quickly.
"We have seen the Russians shift to focused, small-unit attacks, often of just three to five men. Company-size assaults of 50 to 100 men hardly ever happen anymore.'
Donald Trump has said he expects Putin's retaliation following the stunning Opertion Spiderweb "is not going to be pretty".
The US President spoke to Vlad on Wednesday - with the Russian saying, according to Trump, he would "have to respond".
The call followed Operation Spiderweb — a daring Ukrainian drone blitz that wrecked 41 Russian planes across four strategic airfields, in a coordinated assault likened to WWII's most audacious missions.