UK intelligence warns of new phase of war: Russian forces massing in the south

Russia’s war on Ukraine is about to enter a new phase, with the heaviest fighting shifting to a roughly 350km frontline stretching southwest from near Zaporizhzhia to Kherson, paralleling the Dnieper River.

This is stated in the latest update of the Ministry of Defence of Great Britain on the situation in Ukraine, UNIAN reports.

"Russian troops are almost certainly massing in the south, waiting either for a Ukrainian counteroffensive or preparing for a possible assault. Long convoys of Russian military trucks, tanks, artillery and more continue to move from the Donbas to the southwest," the report notes.

There are reports of forces moving from occupied Melitopol, Berdiansk, Mariupol, and mainland Russia via the Kerch bridge into Crimea.

"BTGs of 800-1,000 men have been moved to Crimea, and they will most likely be used to reinforce the Russian grouping in the Kherson region. On August 2, a new BTG was moved to Crimea, they are also being moved from the eastern grouping of forces and are highly likely to be sent to the Kherson region in the coming days," British Intelligence reported.

The Ukrainian military, the survey says, continues to hit the enemy's rear, targeting bridges, ammunition depots, and railway junctions in the occupied south. Given the strategic importance of the rail line that connects occupied Crimea to the south, the actions to create every possible problem for it are probably intended to make it difficult for Russia to logistically supply its southern grouping of troops.