The ISW made the assessment in its latest report on the war in Ukraine, published on Wednesday night, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The US experts said: “The commitment of significant elements of at least three major Russian divisions to offensive operations in this sector indicates the Russian offensive has begun, even if Ukrainian forces are so far preventing Russian forces from securing significant gains.”
The pace of Russian attacks along the Svatove-Kreminna line in the western part of the Luhansk province has “increased markedly over the past week”, according to the ISW.
The think tank said Russian troops were attacking Ukrainian defensive lines and making marginal advances along the border between Luhansk and the northeastern Kharkiv region, especially northwest of Svatove near Kupyansk and west of Kreminna.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Sunday that Russia planned to do "something symbolic" in February to make up for its reverses over the past year, The Kyiv Independent noted.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Russia had concentrated major forces in Ukraine's east and south for a fresh offensive.
He said: "Now they have a new tactic – concentrated, slow attempts, little by little, ten metres at a time, to capture, push, squeeze out (Ukrainian troops)," as quoted by The Kyiv Independent.
In recent weeks, intense fighting has focused around the city of Bakhmut and the nearby towns of Soledar and Vuhledar, in the eastern Donetsk region, according to news reports.
Thursday is day 351 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, understandingwar.org, The Kyiv Independent