Russia is preparing major three-pronged attack from Belarus as well as east and ... trends now
Ukraine is bracing itself for a major Russian offensive within weeks as Vladimir Putin bids to turn the tide of the war with a devastating three-pronged assault.
An advisor to Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed Kyiv is anticipating an attack from the north in Belarus, from Russian strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, and in the south from the Crimean peninsula.
If successful, Moscow's troops would encircle the defending forces in the pincer movement which would drive back Ukraine after a series of advances in recent months.
US officials say Ukraine are planning on launching their own offensive against Russia after a stagnant winter, but have urged them to hold off until spring once they have received more weaponry.
The anticipated three-pronged attack would see Russian forces advance from Belarus in the north, the Donbas in the east, and Crimea in the south
US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley expressed strong doubt Friday that Ukraine would succeed in driving Russian troops out its territory this year.
At a US-hosted meeting on Ukraine in Germany, Milley told reporters: 'From a military standpoint I still maintain that for this year it would be very, very difficult to militarily eject the Russian forces from all, every inch of... Russian-occupied Ukraine.'
Kyiv officials are preparing for the onslaught after winter brought a halt to the rapid change of territory control.
Rustem Umerov, a member of Zelensky's negotiating team, told the Daily Beast: 'Russians are encircling us from 240 degrees, attacking from the Black Sea, from Belarus and the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Fighting has already intensified in Zaporizhzhia, which had been stagnant for months, in anticipation of the assault.
Officials are expecting a pincer attack from the town and Kharkiv when Putin gives the orders for the simultaneous offensive.
'In the direction of Zaporizhzhia, the intensity of military activity has sharply increased,' the official, Vladimir Rogov, said on the Telegram social media platform.
Both Rogov and the Russian army said Moscow's forces had seized the village of Lobkove, around 30 miles south of the Ukrainian-held regional capital, also called Zaporizhzhia.
'Lobkove is ours,' Rogov said.
He added that Russian forces had fired at Ukrainian positions with 'tanks, mortar and artillery' in a dozen villages in the region.
The Ukrainian army said Friday that 'more than 20 settlements' had been attacked.
The West is battling over tanks after Zelensky appealed for more military support. Pictured: a German Leopard 2A6 takes part in NATO exercises
Ukrainian servicemen attend a joint drills of armed forces, national guards, border guards and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) at the border with Belarus today
Rogov had announced Thursday a 'local offensive' in the region near the town of Orikhiv.
He told the Russian state-run TASS news agency on Friday that this was 'not yet the storming' of the town, which lies southeast of Zaporizhzhia, but that fighting had reached its suburbs.
'Hills have been taken that determine fire control over Orikhiv and other settlements,' he said.
The front in southern Ukraine has been considerably quieter recently than in the east, with Moscow withdrawing from the major city of Kherson in November.
Ukrainian military spokeswoman Natalia Gumenyuk told local media that fighting along the southern frontline was 'difficult', including in Zaporizhzhia.
Colonel Oleh Zhdanov, a former staffer in the operational directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told The Daily Beast: 'It looks like they are planning a pincer attack from Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia directions, they will attempt to capture all of Ukraine's major defense forces.
'We are also watching Russian military constantly moving 10-12,000 men in Belarus. They are also reinforcing in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.'
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded for more tanks in order to stop the Russian 'evil' as defence leaders from 50 countries - including all 30 NATO members - gathered in Germany to discuss the next stage of support for Kyiv (pictured)
A person stands near a shell crater after a rocket hit near a kindergarten in Kramatorsk, Donetsk
Ukrainian servicemen ride atop a tank near the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk
Russia claimed its first major territorial gain in months last week when it seized the salt mining town of Soledar, which the Kremlin boasted as a crucial capture.
Taking control of the town allows Putin's forces to cut supply lines to Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut, Moscow said.
But Kyiv and the West played down the town's significance, saying Russia sacrificed waves of
