Ukraine faces new Russian offensive as peace talks stall

KYIV Ukrainian battlefield advances last month, which the government said totalled around 400 sq km, were modest but sent a clear message to Russia, said Vladyslav Urubkov, head of the military department at Come Back Alive, a leading Ukrainian charity which helps equip the army

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Ukraine will aim to repel Russia's new springtime offensive along the front line during a breakdown in US-backed peace talks by building on recent tactical successes and battlefield innovations like mid-range strikes. The focus of the widely anticipated campaign is the so-called “Fortress Belt” of heavily defended cities in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, which Moscow has repeatedly demanded Kyiv relinquish in return for peace. Over the last week, Russia has launched a battalion-size assault northeast of Sloviansk, the belt’s northern anchor, and smaller attacks near the cities of Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka, on its southern end, seeking to create conditions for a broader offensive, the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said.

Authorities in Sloviansk announced on Friday the evacuation of children from the city as Russian forces advanced just 20 km east — a sign of the deteriorating security situation. Though Russian forces outnumber Ukraine's, improved tactical assaults by Kyiv and its evolving drone strike capability could slow Moscow's gains, said Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a Philadelphia-based think tank. "Russia still has enough manpower to keep advancing this year," said Lee. "How far they're going to get is an open question.”