“The Enemy Plans to Form Additional Divisions and Five Brigades.”

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi said new brigades need to be formed because of the threat of an attack from Belarusian territory. According to him, the length of the front could increase by 160 kilometers in northern Ukraine.

Syrskyi noted that Russia, “having failed to achieve success on the main axes, decided to expand the zone of its active operations in northern Ukraine,” which, according to the enemy’s plans, “should lead to an increase in the length of the active front line by 160 kilometers.” He added that the enemy retains an advantage in manpower, and that the Armed Forces of Ukraine need new formations to repel a possible offensive. The commander-in-chief said this in a comment to Liga.

“The enemy, by the way, has adjusted its plans and intends to form additional divisions and five brigades this year. We are forced to respond to such actions. In war, you either seize the initiative or give it up. There is no third option,” he said.

Asked why new brigades should be created rather than replenishing existing ones, Syrskyi explained that increasing the size of current formations would not solve the problem of the front expanding.

“If you increase the size of a brigade, that does not increase the length of the front line on which it can be used... When the front expands and deepens, the arithmetic is inexorable: new military units are needed,” the commander-in-chief said.

Syrskyi also noted that the front line has now increased significantly in depth.

Earlier, Zelensky threatened Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that if he did not remove equipment from the Ukrainian border, Ukraine would do it. This came after a Ukrainian Armed Forces drone struck a bus carrying a children’s football team from Belarus in the Bryansk region.