Fighting against Russian troops in eastern Ukraine reached their “maximum intensity”, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malyar declared on Thursday.
“The fighting has reached its maximum intensity and we have before us a long and extremely difficult period,” the official told reporters.
The governor of the Lugansk province, Sergei Gaidai, which together with Donetsk makes up the Donbas region, also warned of the intensity of the fighting.
“The task is extremely difficult in the Lugansk region because we have had three months of constant attacks, constant shelling, and now all Russian forces are deployed here, and we have to contain this horde,” he said in a video posted on Telegram on Thursday.
According to him, many Ukrainian military infrastructures have been destroyed.
“Slowly our guys (Ukrainian soldiers) are retreating to more fortified positions. It’s very hard (for them). Extremely difficult. But they’re hanging on,” he added.
Russian troops focus their offensive in eastern Ukraine after having withdrawn from the kyiv region, which they failed to control.
The pro-Russian separatists already controlled an eastern part of the territory since 2014.
Asked about the situation in kyiv, Malyar considered that the threat still existed.
“Because destroying kyiv and overthrowing the Ukrainian government is the fastest way to conquer Ukraine. So we have to live with the idea that this threat will always be with us,” she stressed.
From the Davos Economic Forum, the mayor of the capital, Vitali Klitschko, also pointed out that he could not “offer security guarantees” to the inhabitants who decided to return to the city.