By Gonzalo Aragones. La Vanguardia newspaper, from Spain
After a month of intervention in Ukraine, Russia said this Friday that, reduced the Ukrainian response capacity, his army will now focus on taking control of the Donbas region. “Our forces and means will concentrate on the main thing – the complete liberation of Donbas,” he said. Sergei RudskoyDeputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
According to the military, the first stage of what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine it has practically ended. “Usually, the main missions of the first stage of the operation have been fulfilled”, affirmed in a press appearance the high command.
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In the donbas basin includes the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, where in 2014 two pro-Russian republics proclaimed themselves. In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized them as independent states and two days later sent his forces to Ukraine, whose first declared motive was the defense of those territories.
Russian tanks, however, have reached other regions and are at the gates of the capital kyiv and the second city of the country, Vehicleamong other.
According to Rudskoi, Russian troops have blocked since the beginning of the operation Kyiv, Vehicle, Chernígiv, Sumi and Mikoláiv. According to the general, the operation was “successful”, but the Russian troops did not try to take them, but to immobilize the Ukrainian troops.
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This explanation contrasts with that of Ukraine and its Western allies, which have pointed to the stalling of Moscow’s military drive due to Ukrainian resistance and poor planning by the Russians.
The plans for the operation did not include storming the blockaded cities “to prevent destruction and minimize losses among personnel and civilians,” but to surround them, Rudskoi insisted.
On the contrary, the main task was the “complete liberation of Donbas”. The military added that the possibility of assault is not excluded, but “as the individual groups complete the assigned tasks, our forces and means will concentrate on the main thing – the complete liberation of Donbas”.
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The Ministry of Defense stated that the region of Khersonin the south, and most of the Zaporiyiain the southeast, are under full Russian control.
The colonel general assured that the Air Force, the air defense and the naval forces of Ukraine “have been practically destroyed”. And he added that Russia continues to fight to take over the port city of Mariupol, in the Sea of Azov. “The liberation of the city of Mariupol continues,” he noted.
The Russian military representative also offered the second count of casualties among its Armed Forces. Rudskoi calculated the losses in this month of fighting at 1,351 killed and 3,825 wounded.
Ukrainians deny Russian victory
Ukrainian forces for their part denied that Russia had succeeded in blockading kyiv and Chernigov. The Ukrainian General Staff also noted that “Russian troops try to maintain their positions in the suburbs of Sumy and Kharkiv” and increases the military presence in the Sea of Azov. They also denied having signed any agreement.
