According to the BBC's report on February 2 local time, Ukrainian Defense Minister Leznikov said that Russia was preparing for a new major offensive and warned that it might start as soon as February 24. Leznikov said that Moscow had gathered a large number of soldiers and could "try something" to commemorate the first anniversary of Russia's special military operation. He also said that Moscow had mobilized about 500000 soldiers for a possible offensive. The Russian side has not responded to the statement of the Ukrainian Defense Minister. After Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom agreed to send main battle tanks to Ukraine, Ukraine recently again appealed to its allies to provide fighter planes to help it avoid air strikes. Russia has sent notes to many countries including the United States on the issue of supplying weapons to Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that NATO countries were "playing with fire" in supplying weapons to Ukraine. The press secretary of the Russian President Peskov pointed out that the delivery of weapons from the West to Ukraine would not help the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations to succeed and would have negative effects. (Outlook New Era)