MOSCOW, Sept 28 (Portal) – The Kremlin said on Wednesday its “military special operation” in Ukraine must continue at least until it has captured the entire eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk.
Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) — a breakaway Russian-backed entity that has been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014 — controls only part of the larger territory it claims.
“Therefore it is necessary to liberate at least the entire territory of the DPR,” he said.
Register
Russia has framed its military campaign in Ukraine as necessary to protect the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region, half of which is Donetsk, from “genocide” by Ukraine. Both Kyiv and Western countries say this is a fig leaf for an imperial land grab.
Although Russia already controls almost all of the Luhansk region, the other half of the Donbass, it only holds about 60% of the Donetsk region.
Moscow-backed entities in Donetsk and Luhansk, along with two other Russian-held regions in southern Ukraine, are aspiring to become part of Russia after completing on Tuesday what Kyiv and Western governments described as sham referendums on joining Russia.
Register
Reporting by Portal
Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.