For Russia, the second phase of the war in Ukraine has begun, or at least that’s what the defense ministry says: the goal now is “the liberation of Donbass.”
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The war in Ukraine is entering phase two. At least that’s what the Russian Ministry of Defense said. Yesterday, in a lengthy press conference, the Kremlin said that basically everything is going according to plan and that now that Ukraine is militarily weakened, Russia can turn its full power to the real goal it has had since the beginning of the war: the liberation of Donbass . After a month of war, Moscow’s declared strategy is changing, at least that’s what they say: going back to eastern Ukraine, to the disputed areas where the conflict began a long time ago.
General Sergei Rudskoy yesterday outlined Moscow’s upcoming objectives and took stock of the war so far: “The main objectives of the first phase of the operation were generally achieved,” he stated. Then a reconstruction of the attack is made. There were two options: to carry out the “special operation only in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, with the risk of men and vehicles arriving from western Ukraine, or to attack the whole country directly in order to weaken the defense exclusively concentrated on military targets.
But now “the combat potential of the Ukrainian armed forces has been significantly reduced. This allows to focus on the crucial efforts to achieve the main goal, which is the liberation of Donbass, the general said clearly. Then it was Rudskoy himself who explained how to proceed: “Militia units of the Luhansk People’s Republic liberated 93 percent of the territory of the region. Now fighting is going on near Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. The militias of the Donetsk People’s Republic took control of 54% of the territory. The liberation of the city of Mariupol continues “.
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What the actual strategy behind these declarations is is still unclear: the capture of Mariupol, alongside that of Donbass, would also allow for the reunification of Crimea and perhaps give Putin the opportunity to declare a victory and the success of the special operation. It will be necessary to understand that the movements of the Russian army will also change in facts.