The adviser to the head of the Ministry of Defense, Yuriy Sak, said that the Russian authorities may resort to repeated massive shelling of Ukraine in order to force the authorities to hold negotiations. He told the BBC about this.

 "This was the strategy for the last two months. Faced with defeats on the battlefield, they (the Russian Federation) have to make up for it. They are trying to create conditions to force Ukraine to go to negotiations. This will not happen. It won't work," Sak said.

 According to him, today's large-scale shelling of Ukraine did not come as a surprise to the authorities, as they had been warning about it for several weeks.

 "It is unlikely that they will be the last," the adviser added.

 Sak also said that Russian missile attacks "send a signal" to Western allies about the need for an air defense system to protect Ukrainian cities. He noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wants to "control all of Ukraine", and the message is that the war is far from over.

 In addition, the adviser said that the counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to return the territories under state control will resume as soon as the weather conditions improve.