Ukraine Russia Conflict: Russian assault on eastern Ukraine ‘could last several months’ warns UK officials

A senior UK national security official has warned Boris Johnson and his Cabinet that Vladimir Putin’s assault on the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine could last for “several months". However, Boris Johnson said Ukraine’s position was “perilous”, as the Russian president was thought to want to be able to declare a victory of some sort “regardless of the human cost”.

Speaking on Johnson's behalf his spokesperson said, "There are some signs that Russia had not learned lessons from previous setbacks in northern Ukraine. And there was evidence of troops being committed to the fight in a piecemeal fashion. Reports of poor Russian morale continued with claims of some soldiers leaving units refusing to fight."

Russia launched a war on Ukraine on February 24. However, according to the latest updates, The Russian offensive to seize eastern Ukraine and the “battle for Donbas” has begun, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said. According to the senior US defence department, Russia has 76 battalion tactical groups in the Donbas region of Ukraine and in the country’s southeast with 11 of those added over the last several days. No fewer than 1,000 civilians are reportedly hiding in underground shelters beneath the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, according to the city council. Most of the civilians are believed to be women with children and elderly people. About 40,000 civilians in the city have been forcibly moved to Russia or Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine, the mayor added. Meanwhile, seven people were killed in strikes in the western city of Lviv.