Putin has no intention of seizing Donbas and the south of Ukraine.
Last week, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov reformulated the the goals of the “military special operation” and stated that one of the main goals of Russia is the “protection” of the residents of the Donbass and the southeast of Ukraine, but claimed that there is still a lot of work to “liberate” these territories.
Peskov's comments indicate that Russia's current “minimum political war aims” remain unchanged.
As analysts at the British Ministry of Defense note, Russia is likely still seeking to extend control over all of Donetsk, Luhansk , Zaporizhia and Kherson regions. Russian military planners still strive to maintain the priority of advancing deep into the Donetsk region.
“However, the Russian strategy is currently unlikely to achieve its goals: it is very unlikely that the Russian military is now able to form an effective strike force capable of retaking these areas,” – believe in British intelligence and note that the Russian ground forces are unlikely to achieve significant operational successes in the next several months.
Latest Defense Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 12 December 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/ngW6tfLdtw
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/E2XThQO2GD
— Ministry of Defense 🇬🇧 ( @DefenceHQ) December 12, 2022
Also read: The Guardian: Putin is escalating to survive, so there will be no peace until he falls
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We will remind you that on December 7, during an online meeting of the Human Rights Council, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, said that “the so-called “special operation” is a long process, butat the moment, its achievement is new territories for Russia.
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