Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned his nation that the coming week would be as crucial as any in the war, adding in his nightly address that he expects Russian troops to “move to even larger operations in the east of our state”.

Experts say the next phase of the battle may begin with a full-scale offensive that could start within days. The outcome could determine the course of the conflict, which has flattened cities, killed untold thousands and isolated Moscow economically and politically.

Russia’s military is believed to be preparing for a large, focused push to expand control in the country’s east. Russia-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donbas region since 2014 and declared some territory there as independent.

Zelensky accused Russia of trying to evade responsibility for war crimes. “The day will come when they will have to admit everything. Accept the truth”, - he said.

“When people lack the courage to admit their mistakes, apologize, adapt to reality and learn, they turn into monsters. And when the world ignores it, the monsters decide that it is the world that has to adapt to them. Ukraine will stop all this”.