Putin preparing new onslaught in Donbas, warns Zelensky

Ukraine's president warned Russian troops are regrouping in preparation for a renewed assault in the east Thursday, as he dismissed Kremlin promises to scale back attacks on the capital Kyiv.

With shelling of Kyiv and Chernigiv continuing despite a Russian vow to "reduce" military activity by "a large margin," Volodymyr Zelensky told his war-torn nation to brace for a new Russian onslaught in the eastern Donbas region.

"We don't believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase," Zelensky said in a late-night video message. "There is an accumulation of Russian troops for new strikes in Donbas and we are preparing for it."

"We will fight for every metre of our land," he said.

In five weeks of brutal fighting Russian forces have been humbled by dogged Ukrainian resistance, and forced to rethink any ambitions to sack the capital or overthrow the democratically elected government.

Western intelligence agencies have been keen to underscore Russia's military failings and to push suggestions that President Vladimir Putin is being misled by his own fearful advisors about battlefield reverses.

"We've seen Russian soldiers — short of weapons and morale — refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft," Britain's GCHQ spy agency chief Jeremy Fleming on Thursday, after similar claims from the White House.

Citing U.S. intelligence, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said Putin "felt misled by the Russian military."