Ukrainian officials continue to stress that Russia's primary goal for 2024 remains the capture of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, as with Russian forces planning their offensive operation in the summer of 2024
This is stated in the daily analysis of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), cited by news.bg.
From there they recall that recently the Russian forces have advanced slightly in the vicinity of Kupyansk, Avdeevka and the city of Donetsk.
The first shipments of renewed US military aid have already arrived in Ukraine earlier this week.
It will likely take several more weeks before Western weapons and ammunition arrive in full scale on the front lines.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron announced Britain's intention to provide long-term support to Ukraine.
Cameron even said from Kiev that Ukrainian forces could strike deep into Russian territory with weapons provided by London.
Ukrainian officials have indicated that Russian forces in Ukraine have not significantly increased their numbers in recent months, but that the Russian military continues to improve its fighting qualities overall, even though it has suffered widespread degradation since the start of the war , especially among its elite units.
Ukrainian officials have indicated that the Russian military is likely to maintain its current rate of personnel replacement and will not generate significant numbers of available personnel needed to create strategic-level reserves for larger offensive operations in 2024.
The commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavlyuk, stated in an interview with "Times" that neither Russian nor Ukrainian forces will be able to achieve victory in Ukraine only through an offensive war.
This is a consistent position that Ukrainian officials and military analysts have been pushing in recent months.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has been particularly candid in his assessment of recent Russian advances in Ukraine and has refrained from making definitive claims about the success of Russian military efforts, possibly in an effort to temper domestic expectations of near-future Russian successes in Ukraine before the Russian offensive operation in the summer of 2024
A Russian insider, who has usually been tight-lipped about previous changes in Russian military command, claimed on May 2 that Russia's Defense Ministry (MoD) has replaced several high-ranking Russian commanders in recent months.
On May 2, NATO said it was "deeply concerned" from the strengthening of Russian hybrid operations on the territory of the member states of the Alliance and that these operations pose a threat to the security of the allies.
The General Director of "Rostech" Sergey Chemezov announced that the Russian state defense conglomerate "Rostech" is ramping up its production of all variants of guided bombs during a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on May 3.