British military intelligence confirmed that “the main goal of the Russian forces is to achieve a field advance towards the city of Bakhmut in the Donbass in eastern Ukraine, which Moscow seeks to fully control.”

And intelligence indicated in the report that “Russian military leadership faces two difficult choices: deploy more reserve forces to support this attack, or deploy these forces to stop the advance of Ukrainian troops in the south of the country.”

She pointed out that “expanding Ukrainian operations to a distance of 500 kilometers to the south will test Russia’s ability to coordinate its operations and send resources to several battlegroups at the same time”, explaining that “Russia’s inability to coordinate its operations at the start of the war in Ukraine was one of the reasons for the performance” weak forces.

It is worth noting that Russia now controls about 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory, including large parts of the east and south of the country, more than six months after the start of its military operation in Ukraine.

Currently, fierce fighting is underway in southern Ukraine between Russian and Ukrainian troops, who are going on a counteroffensive to return the lands seized by pro-Moscow forces.