Russia forces are concentrating their attacks in the eastern Avdiivka area but a successful encirclement of the city "would very likely require more forces" than Russia has currently dedicated to region, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports.
The American thinktank states the Russian military has intensified offensive operations northwest of Avdiivka and the Ukrainian general staff had recently confirmed up to three Russian battalions conducted an attack in the Avdiivka direction.
In addition to this, Russian military bloggers are largely portraying the Avdiivka-area operations as "a significant offensive effort aimed at encircling the Ukrainian force grouping" and in "capturing the city".
But the ISW has said Russian troops will need to increase the number of men on its frontline in the region if it wishes to fullfil its aims.
It said Russian forces have "largely deployed irregular forces along this frontline" and additional volunteer formations have "largely suffered from poor and abusive command culture and tensions with regular Russian units".
The ISW also observed no recent Russian deployments to this line.
"Russian forces have also conducted grinding offensive operations for relatively minimal territorial gains near Avdiivka for the past year and a half of the war, and the Russian military command is likely aware that an effort to capture Avdiivka would require more and higher quality units than those currently deployed in the area," the thinktank added.
https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-russia-news-putin-nuclear-live-updates-kyiv-12541713
