Russia hasn’t changed its goals but has started a new stage in war
Russia still wants full control over Ukraine. In recent weeks, a new stage has begun – a war of attrition.
This was reported by the British Ministry of Defense on Twitter.
According to British intelligence, since 2014, Russia's strategic goal in Ukraine is likely unchanged: to establish control over its neighbor country. Between 2014 and 2021, it pursued this goal through subversion, fomenting an undeclared war in the Donbas and the annexation of Crimea.
As noted in the summary, on February 24, 2022, Russia took a new approach and launched a full-scale invasion with an attempt to take over the entire country and overthrow its government. By April 2022, Russia realized that this plan had failed and focused on expanding and formalizing its dominance over the Donbas and the south. In this, the Kremlin has made slow and extremely costly progress.
In recent weeks, Russia has changed its approach again. Now its campaign is likely aimed primarily at weakening the Ukrainian Armed Forces rather than capturing significant new territory, the report said.
"The Russian leadership is likely pursuing a long-term operation where they bank that Russia’s advantages in population and resources will eventually exhaust Ukraine," the British Defense Ministry said.
As a reminder, the Russian army continues to develop several offensive areas in eastern Ukraine. These are Vuhledar, Kreminna and Bakhmut. Russian casualties remain high.
Author – Anastasiya Glotova, 24/02/2022
