Russian forces are “almost certainly” massing in the south in preparation for a counter-attack from Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) warned on Saturday. Large convoys of military trucks, tanks and towed artillery are moving southwest away from the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry said on Twitter in an intelligence update. “Russia’s war in Ukraine is about to enter a new phase, with the fiercest fighting shifting to a roughly 350km front line running southwest from near Zaporizhia to Kherson, alongside the Dnieper River,” the tweet said. . Tactical battalion groups – consisting of 800 to 1,000 soldiers – have been deployed in Crimea and are expected to support Russian troops in Kherson, according to the Defense Ministry briefing. The equipment is also believed to have been transported from mainland Russia and Moscow-held areas – including Melitopol, Berdyansk and Mariupol – via the Kerch Bridge in Crimea. Kyiv focuses on bridges, ammunition depots and rail links with increasing frequency in the southern regions. Key to this strategy is a major push on the railway linking Kherson to Crimea, with a combination of “blockage, damage, denial, destruction and disruption” effects to be deployed in the hope of hampering Russia’s ability to logistically resupply .
