Russia is building up a force of more than 100,000 soldiers in preparation for a major offensive this summer, Ukraine’s ground forces commander has warned.
“They are creating a group of more than 100,000 people,” Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavliuk said, adding that the troops could be used to launch an offensive by the beginning of summer.
Gen Pavliuk’s warning comes as the Kremlin admitted it was in “in a state of war” with Ukraine as it launched a wave of 90 missiles and more than 60 kamikaze drone strikes overnight, in what Ukrainian officials said was an attempt to cripple the country’s energy infrastructure.
Kharkiv experienced a near city-wide blackout with water supplies cut off, according to local reports. Elsewhere in Zaporizhzhia, strikes on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant left the facility in an “extremely dangerous” position, while Ukraine’s largest dam, a hydroelectric power plant on the Dnipro river, is in a “critical” condition following a missile attack, officials reported.
Moscow carried out the strikes “in response” to attacks by pro-Kyiv soldiers on Russian border cities over the past week, the defence ministry said in a statement.
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