First modification:
Russia admits new territorial aspirations with the war in Ukraine. The deputy commander of the Central Military District of the Russian Armed Forces, Rustam Minnekayev, said on April 22 that taking all of Donbass, in the east, and the south of the country is part of the second phase of the conflict. In addition, the Kremlin troops intend to cross to the southwest to connect with Transnistria, a region in Moldova, controlled by pro-Russian separatists. If successful, Ukraine would lose its outlets to the sea.
Objective “open door to Transnistria” from Ukraine. This is the aspiration in the new phase of the war launched by Russia.
The deputy commander of the Central Military District of the Russian Armed Forces, Rustam Minnekayev, assured in the last hours of this April 22 that the troops of his country they have the mission of seizing the entire Donbass region, in eastern Ukraine, until they create a land corridor to Crimeaprovince in the south of the country, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.
And in a line that would be even more worrying for kyiv, Minnekayev indicated that control of the nation’s south would give Russia another “open door” to Transnistria. It is the pro-Russian separatist region of Moldova, dependent on the Kremlin.
“Control over the south of Ukraine is another way to reach Transnistria, where there is also evidence that the Russian-speaking population is being oppressed,” said Rustam Minnekayev, quoted by state news agencies Interfax and Tass, and referring to to the speech that President Vladimir Putin has used about an alleged repression of Russian-speakers to justify the large-scale attack to “denazify” the neighboring country.
The route described by the Russian commander would resemble drawing a U on the map of Ukraine, from the east down to the south and crossing to the southwest. If successful, the Russian military presence would block the Ukrainians from reaching the sea.
“This would make it possible to create a corridor to Crimea and have influence over the Ukrainian economy,” Minnekayev emphasized.
The ambitions exposed by the military imply that Russian forces would push hundreds of miles further with their sights set on the Ukrainian cities of Mykolaiv and Odessa, in the southwestern part of the nation.
They are broader objectives than those that Putin had recognized after assuring that he seeks to “liberate” the Donbass region and demand that kyiv completely cede the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, in the eastern Ukrainian region, to the pro-Russian separatists.
“They stopped hiding it”
Shortly after Minnekayev’s words were released, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry issued a statement noting that Russia has “recognized that the goal of the ‘second phase’ of the war is not victory over the mythical Nazis, but simply the occupation of eastern and southern Ukraine. Imperialism as it is.”
The Ukrainian General Staff stressed that Russian forces have increased attacks along the entire front line in the east and are trying to mount an offensive in the Kharkiv region, north of Putin’s immediate target, Donbass. .
Moscow admits its greatest territorial aspirations just after it proclaimed control of the port city of Mariupol, southeastern Ukrainian territory, on Thursday, April 21.
Mariúpol is a strategic enclave with access to the Sea of Azov, whose seizure by the Russian military would be vital to establish the aforementioned land corridor that connects Donbass with Crimea.
Despite claims of victory, kyiv insists that Moscow’s mission there would not be complete, given that 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers and more than 1,000 civilians are holding out in the city inside the Azovstal steel factory.
The huge plant covering 11 km2, one of the largest in Europe, is surrounded after Putin ordered his troops that “not even a fly passes”.
Meanwhile, enormous devastation and thousands of dead people remain in the midst of the conflict launched by Russia on February 24.
With Reuters and EFE
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