Russia is training additional divisions in Siberia, which it could use in particular to capture the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine. But the prospects for such an operation seem doubtful. This is written by The Economist with reference to a Ukrainian source familiar with intelligence data.
“Russia is currently training six divisions (approximately 120,000 troops) in Eastern Siberia. On April 3, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia would mobilize another 300,000 in June. "Kharkov is one of several possible directions for a future attack," the publication writes.
It is noted that an assault on Kharkiv does not seem very likely, but Russian propaganda is actively discussing such a scenario. Therefore, this may just be an information campaign by the Kremlin.
Also, the Russians have already failed spectacularly in their first attempt to capture Kharkiv in 2022, when the city was much less defended. Such an operation would require breaking through Ukrainian defenses and surrounding the city, establishing air superiority and further fighting in the city itself - all of which the Russians do not have the capacity to do, writes The Economist.
Ukrainians are sure that the Russians will not be able to capture Kharkiv, but they can make an attempt to destroy a large part of it. Russian invaders have already destroyed many cities and villages in Ukraine during the full-scale war launched by Putin in February 2022.