“He will deploy 300 thousand newly mobilized soldiers depending on what happens in the east of our country. If he achieves the success he expects there, then he will be able to transfer forces to another direction. For example, to the ‘buffer zone.’ This could also be the Chernihiv–Kyiv regions – he has certain plans and theoretical intentions to attack in this direction from Russia, from the Bryansk region.
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We will observe all this: whether, after preparing them, forces will begin to be concentrated or not. So far, they do not have the necessary manpower in the Bryansk region, but along the border with the Russian Federation, we see equipment,” the president said.
He also added that the main Russian goal remains unchanged. V. Putin has ordered his army to occupy all of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by the end of this year. According to the president, such a deadline is unrealistic. Moreover, he said, Russia is suffering huge losses in battles in the Donetsk region.
“70–80 percent of all their losses are in this direction, Kostiantynivka. It is there that they lose the most people, where the fiercest battles take place. They are putting maximum pressure there. We know this and are setting appropriate tasks – to strengthen the Sloviansk and Kramatorsk directions. They will lose all those 300 thousand newly mobilized Russians there. We will destroy them. Putin will lose them all because the majority will be thrown exactly there,” V. Zelensky added.
The president also noted that when it comes to creating the so-called “buffer zone,” Russia will not be able to exert the same pressure in the northern directions as in the Donetsk region, because Donbas remains a “crazy goal” that V. Putin “lives by.”
“Therefore, any Russian negotiations begin with the demand: ‘Let the Ukrainians withdraw from the east of their country.’ They constantly postpone deadlines. Now they have set a deadline – by the end of 2026. Earlier, they wanted to do this before the US elections this fall and even sent such signals to the Americans, but later the deadline had to be postponed again,” the president noted.
Commenting on the Ukrainian Defense Forces’ offensive, V. Zelensky stated that Ukraine has almost completely pushed Russian occupation forces out of the Dnipropetrovsk region. According to the president, about 10 square kilometers of territory remain occupied, including three small villages.
“In the Oleksandrivka direction, we conducted a large counteroffensive operation, which was planned in the fall of 2025 and started in early December 2025. Few knew about it. I did not speak about it until General Apostol (Commander of the Air Assault Forces Oleh Apostol – UNIAN) reached the designated positions… Moreover, we are currently conducting another operation in another part of the front. Its results will be known by the end of August,” the president noted.
We remind that analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) previously reported on Ukrainian Defense Forces counterattacks on the front. According to their data, Ukrainian defenders counterattacked near Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region and Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region.
At the same time, Major General Vadym Skibitsky, Deputy Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, emphasized that if Russia carries out mobilization this year, it could start a new offensive this winter in the northern direction – towards the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions.
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