Russian forces are setting the stage for a new offensive in Ukraine’s east.

As Russian forces step up attacks on critical infrastructure in eastern Ukraine and wage a cataclysmic campaign to gain total control over the southern port city of Mariupol, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday that Moscow is deploying tens of thousands of soldiers for a renewed assault.

“Russia is preparing another offensive, hoping to break our national resistance after all,” Mr. Zelensky said. “The occupiers concentrated tens of thousands of soldiers and a huge amount of equipment to try to strike again.”

Ukrainian and Western officials have warned for days that Russian forces, having failed to seize Kyiv and topple the Ukrainian government, were regrouping. Moscow has said its aim is now to seize areas it doesn’t already control in the Donbas, an area in the eastern part of the country, and to solidify its hold on the southern coastal region from Kherson to Mariupol. Read more

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