Military analyst Vasyl Pekhno stated this on Espreso TV."To be fair, the figure of 710,000 troops originally came from Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi himself. The problem is that some media outlets and Telegram channels misinterpreted his statement in their headlines, claiming that Russia is supposedly preparing for some new strategic offensive. That's not accurate. Russia's strategic offensive actually began back in 2014, when they set their strategic goal to conquer all of Ukraine. That offensive has been ongoing ever since. These headlines suggest that Russia has assembled 710,000 troops for a new strategic offensive, as if they've recently built up their forces with fresh numbers and strength. That's also incorrect. Russia has maintained about 700,000 troops at the front for quite some time now—about half a year. Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi recently confirmed this, stating that 710,000 is the current stable number of occupying forces, and they're only able to maintain this level because we're inflicting major personnel losses on them," he noted.Vasyl Pekhno pointed out that at least 60% of Russian losses reported daily by the General Staff are killed in action."Over the past six months, the war has completely transformed into a drone war where drones play a decisive role. During this period, at least 60% of the Russian losses we see in daily General Staff reports are killed—not wounded, but killed. Obviously, total casualty figures include both killed and wounded. Previously, the wounded made up a much larger portion of these numbers, and they theoretically had a chance to return to combat after hospital treatment. Now, however, those killed in action make up the majority. My point is this: the correct interpretation of Syrskyi's statement about 710,000 troops and the strategic offensive differs greatly from the misleading newspaper headlines we've seen. Essentially, the commander-in-chief said nothing new. He simply stated that Russia is maintaining a stable force of 710,000 troops," he said.The military expert explained which front sectors are currently Russian priorities. The first strategic direction where the enemy is advancing is Pokrovsk."Pokrovsk has consistently remained the zone of most intense combat throughout 2025. The second priority is Kupiansk, where the invaders recently suffered heavy losses. Third, due to their recent successes, Huliaipole has become a situational priority. The Russians are currently advancing along all three of these directions. We can clearly observe their preparation for a future operation in the Kramatorsk-Sloviansk area. Everything happening now around Siversk, or in Siversk itself, and everything happening around Lyman and along the Lyman direction—all of this is essentially laying the groundwork for future enemy advances or attacks on the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk urban area. In other words, the Russians are trying to create favorable conditions from three sides: Lyman, Siversk, and further south from the Kostiantynivka area. So far, they're creating these conditions gradually. I believe that once Pokrovsk falls—from their perspective—they'll shift their primary focus to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, possibly starting in spring. But we're not there yet, because the defense of the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad area is still holding," Vasyl Pekhno explained.