Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to prepare new offensive operations aimed at capturing Kyiv, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief has warned, raising fresh concerns that the Kremlin is considering another attempt to seize the Ukrainian capital.
General Oleksandr Syrskyi said Russian commanders had been instructed to develop options for renewed attacks on northern Ukraine, including potential offensives launched from Belarus as well as Russia’s Bryansk region.
According to Syrskyi, one scenario would see Russian forces once again attempt to advance on Kyiv from Belarusian territory, echoing the opening weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Another, which he described as the more likely option, would involve an assault from Russia’s Bryansk region into Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region, opening a new axis of attack designed to stretch Ukrainian defences.
The warning comes as fighting intensifies across several fronts and both sides seek to gain the initiative during the summer campaign.
While Russia continues pressing attacks in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv has dramatically expanded its own long-range strike campaign against military targets deep inside Russian territory.
On Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Ukrainian forces had struck the Dubna satellite communications centre in Russia’s Moscow region for the second time in a week.
The facility lies around 500 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
Writing on Telegram, Zelensky said the centre played a key role in supporting Russian military operations by gathering reconnaissance data and coordinating forces involved in the invasion.
Ukraine’s General Staff said the installation had also been targeted during an earlier operation last week as part of Kyiv’s expanding campaign against Russia’s command, communications and intelligence infrastructure.
The latest strike forms part of a broader Ukrainian strategy aimed at degrading the systems that allow Russia to sustain military operations far beyond the front line.
In recent months, Ukrainian drones and missiles have repeatedly targeted Russian oil refineries, ammunition depots, airbases, bridges, radar sites and communications facilities hundreds of miles inside Russia.
Kyiv argues that disrupting logistics and command networks is essential to slowing Moscow’s offensive capabilities while increasing the economic cost of continuing the war.
Russia has not publicly commented on Syrskyi’s claims that Putin has ordered preparations for another attempt to capture Kyiv.
Nor has Moscow confirmed the extent of any damage caused by Tuesday’s strike on the Dubna facility.
If the Ukrainian commander’s assessment proves accurate, it would represent one of the clearest indications yet that the Kremlin continues to view Kyiv as a long-term military objective despite the catastrophic failure of its initial assault more than four years ago.
For Ukraine, the message is equally clear.
While Russian forces continue searching for new ways to threaten the capital, Kyiv is determined to ensure the war reaches ever deeper into the military infrastructure that enables Moscow to wage it.
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