Putin's tactics will become

Attacks on civilians ‘likely to intensify to make up for stalled invasion strategy’

- Rachael Burford

INTELLIGENCE chiefs fear Vladimir Putin will order soldiers to become increasingly violent towards the Ukrainian population because his plans to install a puppet, pro-Kremlin government in Kyiv have so far failed.

Russian forces are likely to be reorganising before launching large-scale attacks in Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence said.

An agreement to evacuate civilians trapped in besieged towns through nine “humanitarian corridors” was reportedly reached today, but Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said those trying to escape the largely destroyed city of Mariupol had been taken prisoner by Russian troops.

In a statement, the MoD said: “The battlefield across northern Ukraine remains largely static with Russian forces likely conducting a period of reorganisation before resuming large-scale offensive operations. Russian forces are attempting to envelop Ukrainian forces in the east of the country as they advance from the direction of Kharkiv in the north and Mariupol in the south.”

It added: “Russian efforts to subdue the population by manipulating the media, spreading propaganda and installing pro-Kremlin leaders have so far failed. Russia will probably respond to these failures by employing increasingly violent and coercive measures in an attempt to suppress the Ukrainian population.”

It comes as Russian leaders refused to rule out the possibility of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.