Putin masses troops in southern Ukraine for 'offensive in defiance of Trump warning' not to escalate war

THE STANDARD: Vladimir Putin was massing troops in southern Ukraine for what could be a fresh offensive which would be in defiance of Donald Trump’s warning not to escalate the war.

Russian infantry groups could launch ground assaults in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region within days, striking on a front where fighting has been less active for months, a Ukrainian military spokesman said on Monday.

The attacks could create new pressure points for Kyiv's overstretched defenders who already are losing territory in the east of Ukraine, although it was unclear if any offensive would involve a single push or separate assaults, the spokesman said.

"(The assaults) could begin in the near future, we're not even talking about weeks, we're expecting it to happen any day," said Vladyslav Voloshyn.

Russian assault units were reported to be moving forward on a scale where they would significantly outnumber Ukrainian defenders along this part of the frontline.

Trump has claimed that he could end the conflict on day one of his return to the White House.

So, Putin may seek to seize as much territory in coming weeks, before Trump’s second term starts in January, so Russia is a strong negotiating position for any peace talks.

Meanwhile, Britain backed Trump’s “warning” to Putin against escalating his war in Ukraine.

Defence Secretary John Healey also said the Government in the UK expects Trump, when he gets into office, to carry on backing Ukraine “for as long as it takes to prevail over Putin’s invasion”.

Mr Healey made the remark despite Trump saying he can end the conflict on day one of a second term in the White House, which would almost certainly mean Ukraine having to give up vast swathes of the country to Russia.

“We will have to wait and see what president Trump really proposes,” Mr Healey told BBC Breakfast.

“But if the reports of his call with Putin last week are right then president Trump is exactly right to warn Putin against escalation of the conflict in Ukraine.”

He added: “I expect the US, because of the strength of bipartisan support in the US and a recognition that it’s in no-one’s interests to let an aggressor like Putin redraw international boundaries by force, I expect the US to remain steadfast alongside countries like the UK.”

With Putin stepping up his Ukraine war, with thousands of North Korean troops joining the conflict and Russia launching some 2,000 “kamikaze” drone attacks on the war-torn country last month, Trump was reported to have spoken to the Russian president in recent days.

The US president elect was said to have told Putin not to escalate the war.

“We do not comment on private calls between President Trump and other world leaders,” said Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, when asked about the phone call, which was first reported by The Washington Post.

Trump also spoke with Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s president said late on Sunday that strength and diplomacy must work together to bring the Russian war in Ukraine to an end.

“We understand very clearly that diplomacy has no prospects without strength,” he said in his nightly video address.

Mr Zelensky stressed on Monday that Ukraine's soldiers are engaged against nearly 50,000 enemy troops in Russia's Kursk region which Kyiv forces seized in a surprise incursion in the summer.

He also said Ukraine would "considerably strengthen" its positions on the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove fronts in the east, where the most fierce fighting is taking place as Russia gradually seizes more land while suffering heavy losses, reportedly of more than 1,000 troops killed or wounded a day.