Ukraine said that Russia was rearranging its forces on the fronts, but suffered heavy losses in both manpower and equipment.
On February 7, the Ukrainian forces killed 1,030 Russian soldiers, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced. In addition, 14 Russian tanks, 28 armored fighting vehicles, and artillery systems were also destroyed by Ukrainian forces in 24 hours.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russia is regrouping its forces and continuing offensive operations on five fronts.
“The enemy continues to regroup on several fronts. They are focusing their main efforts on conducting offensive operations on the Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Novopavlivka fronts,” the army said in a statement Ukraine said.
“The enemy continues to suffer losses. They have set up another military hospital in Kherson province to restore the health of wounded soldiers,” the Ukrainian military confirmed.
In the past 24 hours, Russian forces have carried out six missile strikes and 24 air strikes, the Ukrainian military said. Ukraine accuses Russia of carrying out 75 attacks with multiple rocket launchers, especially on civilian facilities in the provinces of Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kherson, causing civilian casualties.
Ukraine claims that units of its self-defense forces repelled Russian attacks near the settlements of Novoselivske, Kreminna, Dibrova in Lugansk Oblast and Verkhnokamianske, Vesele, Zaliznianske, Krasna Hora, Bakhmut, Ivanivske, Paraskoviivka in the Donetsk Oblast.
“Ukrainian air force carried out nine attacks on groups of Russian servicemen and military equipment, as well as two attacks on positions of Russian air defense missile systems in the past day. Units of the Ukrainian artillery and missile forces also attacked eight groups of Russian servicemen,” the Ukrainian military added.
The counterattack of the Ukrainian army took place in the context of the US and Western countries continuing to provide military aid to Ukraine, including heavy weapons.
According to Reuters, hostilities are entering a pivotal phase when nearly a year since the beginning of the conflict (February 24). Ukraine is no longer making strides like in the second half of 2022, while Russia is stepping up its offensive with hundreds of thousands of reservists mobilized.
Ukrainian defense officials have repeatedly warned for weeks that Russia is preparing a new wave of large-scale attacks to turn the tide of the war. According to Ukrainian defense analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko, the new Russian offensive can be deployed from one of four directions: Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Mariupol.
British intelligence believes that Russia is unlikely to build enough force to significantly affect the outcome of the war in the coming weeks. According to British intelligence, Russia’s goal is to gain control of the rest of the Donetsk region in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. However, Russian forces currently gain only a few hundred meters of territory per week, due to a lack of ammunition and the necessary mobile units to successfully launch operations.
