Ukraine will soon launch a counter-offensive after more than a thousand Russian troops were reportedly killed in 24 hours.
Russia’s invasion looks to be faltering after they launched unsuccessful attacks on a number of areas, including the mining town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
“The enemy has not stopped its assault of Bakhmut,” Ukraine’s general staff said in a report.
Ukraine’s top ground forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said his forces would soon begin a counteroffensive following Russia’s winter campaign.
He said Russia’s Wagner mercenaries “are losing considerable strength and are running out of steam”.
“Very soon, we will take advantage of this opportunity, as we did in the past near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk,” he said.
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that without a faster supply of arms the war could last years.
He repeated his calls for more long-range missiles, ammunition, modern aircraft and additional economic sanctions on Russia.
“If Europe waits, the evil may have time to regroup and prepare for years of war,” Zelenskyy said on Thursday in a video address to European Union leaders.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence issued its daily intelligence briefing on Ukraine, suggesting Russia had been training troops in Belarus for practical and political reasons.
It said: “The fact Russia has resorted to training its personnel under the much less-experienced Belarusian army highlights how Russia’s “special military operation” has severely dislocated the Russian military’s training system – instructors have largely been deployed in Ukraine.
“Russia likely also views Belarus’s continued indirect support to the operation as important political messaging.”