Russia has "concentrated" more than 92.000 troops near Ukraine's borders and is "preparing to attack" in late January or early February 2022. This was stated by General Kiril Budanov, Chief of Military Intelligence of Ukraine, in an interview with the American military edition Military Times.

"Such an attack is likely to include air strikes, artillery and tank strikes in the east, followed by airstrikes in Odessa and Mariupol," the general said. According to him, the territory of Belarus will be used for "invasion" of Ukraine. The general states that he came to this conclusion after the Russian-Belarusian exercises "West - 2021" held this year. Budanov said the consequences of a hypothetical attack would be more disastrous for Ukraine than the armed conflict in Donbas.

The attack that Russia is preparing, Budanov said, will be much more devastating than what has been seen so far in the conflict that began in 2014, in which about 14.000 Ukrainians were killed.

In a statement to the Washington Post on Friday, Ukraine's new Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said it was still unclear whether the Russian president had decided to attack.

US intelligence has also warned European allies of the growing threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine with the onset of winter. reported the American television channel CBS.

"The invasion depends on the weather, but it can happen within a few weeks if there is no Western intervention," officials told CBS. Sources note that the alleged accumulation of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine has recently surpassed previous similar actions by Russian authorities.