Russia is preparing a new offensive in the Zaporizhzhia region but lacks the forces to continue intense fighting.

Ukraine’s military predicts an intensification of assault actions by Russian troops in the ​​Orikhov and Mala Tokmachka settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region soon, said a representative of the Southern Defense Forces, Vladyslav Voloshyn.

“If there is a breakthrough there, the enemy can take under fire control the logistical routes that go from Zaporizhzhia to the east of Ukraine, where our Defense Forces hold both the Donetsk region and the southern part of Zaporizhzhia,” Voloshyn said.

At the same time, the ISW says that Russian troops lack sufficient manpower and material resources to continue intensive offensive operations in some areas of the front.

According to analysts, up to 40% of the Russian Federation’s elite marines (more than 2,100 soldiers) may have died near Vuhledar, which Russian troops have been trying to capture for more than two years. It is thought that in the battle for Vuhledar the Russian Federation could lose several brigades, from 18,000 to 36,000 soldiers.