"Russia Concentrates Power in Donbas with 13km Military Parade"...Putin Holds Talks with Austrian Chancellor (Summary)

Convoy of Transport Units in Donbas... Unified Commander Also Appointed
Putin Meets Austrian Chancellor... Maintaining Dialogue Channel with the West

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] As Russia is reportedly preparing a large-scale attack in the Donbas region, there are growing concerns about massive civilian casualties. It is expected that the offensive will be intensified in line with President Vladimir Putin's plan to declare victory by the Victory Day commemorating the end of World War II on the 9th of next month.

On the 10th (local time), according to The New York Times (NYT), the U.S. private satellite company Maxar Technologies released satellite images showing a convoy of Russian military vehicles moving toward the Kharkiv direction in eastern Ukraine. The Russian military convoy, estimated to be about 13 km long, is presumed to be a transport unit convoy to strengthen ground offensives in the Donbas and eastern regions. The NYT also reported that the Russian military recently recruited more than 60,000 reservists again.

Earlier, the Russian government appointed Alexander Dvornikov, commander of the Southern Military District, as the new commander overseeing the situation on the Ukrainian front. Until then, there were criticisms that the Russian military’s individual unit commanders were conducting operations independently, causing confusion, which is interpreted as the reason for appointing a new unified commander.

Commander Dvornikov was previously dispatched to Syria in 2015 to assist the Assad regime, which was in an unfavorable situation during the Syrian civil war. At that time, he was criticized by the international community for causing massive civilian casualties through indiscriminate airstrike operations using air power. Accordingly, there are concerns that civilian casualties will also significantly increase in Ukraine in the future.

However, President Putin has also announced plans to hold a face-to-face meeting with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, suggesting that the dialogue channel with the West will not be completely closed. The Austrian Chancellor’s office stated on the same day, "Chancellor Nehammer will visit Moscow on the 11th to hold a face-to-face meeting with President Putin," and added, "They have also informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the German government, and the European Union (EU)."

Chancellor Nehammer also posted on his Twitter account on the same day, "We are militarily neutral, but our position on Russia’s war of aggression is clear. The war must stop, and humanitarian corridors, ceasefire, and a full investigation into war crimes are necessary."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.