Russian forces attempted to break Ukrainian frontlines across the Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky and a Ukrainian security official said.
A Ukrainian multiple rocket launcher BM-21 Grad shells Russian troops near Lugansk.
Zelensky said in an address Monday night that a large part of the entire Russian army is focused on the region.
Ukrainian Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov said in a television address that Russian forces tried to break through the Ukrainian frontlines, but were only able to do so at two points.
In a Pentagon news briefing on Monday, Department of Defense Press Secretary John Kirby said that the U.S. intelligence has seen Russia increase its military presence in eastern and southern Ukraine in recent days.
Kirby said that the Russians are trying to set the conditions for more aggressive, more overt and larger ground.
Russian officials announced last month that the country would be shifting its military attention to the areas of Ukraine that have been under pro-Russian control. Russia claimed that the purpose of its invasion was to liberate the region, and that it attacked other regions in order to decrease the population. Kirby points out that the pro-Russian forces and the Ukrainian soldiers have fought in the region for eight years, and that they both know the geography of the region.
The U.S. announced last week that it would send an additional $800 million in military aid to the country. The package includes more weapons.
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