Russia may have scaled down the goals it wants to achieve with the war against Ukraine. One of the top officers of the General Staff, Sergei Rudskoy, says Russia will focus its forces and resources on its main goal, “the complete liberation of the Donbas” in eastern Ukraine.
At the start of the war, other goals were also mentioned: Ukraine should be given a neutral status and be demilitarized. In addition, the country should be ‘denazified’ and Crimea (annexed by Russia in 2014) should be recognized by Ukraine as Russian territory.
Military experts suspect that Russia has changed its target, as Ukrainian resistance is much greater than expected. The Russian offensive has stalled after a month of war and heavy casualties. Russia does not seem to dare to face hand-to-hand combat in the cities.
Securing Conquests
A US defense official told Reuters news agency that Russia may be shifting its focus to secure conquests in the Donbas with a view to peace negotiations. He also does not rule out the possibility that Russia is trying to isolate Ukrainian troops in the east from the rest of the country.
According to Rudskoy, the first phase of the war has largely been completed. He argues that the combat power of the Ukrainian army has been seriously affected. “That makes it possible to focus the main military efforts on the liberation of the Donbas.”
The Donbas consists of the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk. Parts of those regions have been in the hands of pro-Russian rebels who are supported and armed by Russia since 2014. Rudskoy says that now 93 percent of Lugansk and 54 percent of Donetsk are no longer controlled by Ukraine.
The Russian attacks on other targets in Ukraine, such as Kiev and Kharkov, aim to damage the country’s military infrastructure and tie up Ukrainian troops there, he said. According to him, they should be prevented from being used in the Donbas.
Former commander of the Land Forces Mart de Kruif distinguishes other phases:
–
