Russia is reportedly cranking up its military in the war against Ukraine by mobilizing up to 500,000 conscripts around mid-January.

The new drive, coming after Moscow's October's draft of 300,000, would include a push in big cities, including some strategic industrial centers in Russia, Andriy Cherniak, an official with the Main Military Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, told Politico.

Russia announced the end of its "partial" mobilization on Oct. 31, Politico reported.

But Cherniak claimed Moscow has continued a secret conscription all along.

Ukrainian military intelligence is expecting mass conscription to begin after Jan. 15.

"This time the Kremlin will mobilize residents of big cities, including the strategic industries centers all over Russia," Cherniak told the news outlet. "This will have a very negative impact on the already suffering Russian economy."

Putin's plan to use the 500,000 extra conscripts is a possible massive new offensive against Ukraine, Vadym Skibitskyy, deputy chief of Ukrainian military intelligence, told the Guardian.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, more than 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in action in Ukraine, with the most recent hard-hitting blow in Makiivka, a town in the occupied part of Donetsk Oblast. Hundreds of newly conscripted Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in a Jan. 1 strike by Ukrainian forces.

The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged the deaths of 89 soldiers, which makes it the biggest one-time military loss recognized by Moscow in the Ukraine war, Politico reported.

In a December interview, Ukrainian Armed Forces Chief Commander Valery Zaluzhnyy told the Economist that Russia will conduct a new attempt at a massive offensive against Ukraine in February and March 2023.

The start could come in the direction of Kyiv through Belarus, Politico reported.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is watching for Russian steps from all directions.

"Russia will not be able to conceal in silence its preparations for a new wave of aggression against Ukraine and the whole of Europe. The world will know in all details — how and when the aggressor is preparing a new escalation in this war," Zelenskyy said in a video statement Jan. 5.

"And every new mobilization step of Russia will be known to the world even before Russia makes it," he said. "We will ensure this."

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