Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the military to complete the occupation of the entire territory of Donetsk Oblast by the 15th of this month, Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Bureau of the Ukrainian General Staff Khromov said on Thursday (1st).
Khromov said that the Russian army continued to control the occupied territories of Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson and Nikolayev regions in an attempt to provide Create favorable conditions to resume the offense. The Russian army has repeatedly changed its actions and plans according to Putin’s orders, and reached the administrative border of Donetsk before the 15th of this month. The Russian army continued to regroup the 3rd Army and units in the occupied area, presumably to increase the Russian army’s personnel and create conditions for the resumption of the offensive in the Donetsk theater.
Khromov revealed that the intelligence showed that due to heavy losses, the Russian Armed Forces High Command decided to disband the 31st Independent Guards Air Assault Brigade and the 22nd Independent Guards Special Purpose Brigade. Currently, the number of soldiers in the two brigades is only 20%. Crimean Prime Minister Aksyonov confirmed that 1,200 residents are involved in Russia’s special military operation once morest Ukraine, and another 100 volunteers will be sent to the front in the next 10 days.