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Speaking to Russian media outlets, General Rustam Minkayev said: "Since the start of the second phase of military operation Among the special tasks, one of the tasks was for the army to tighten its control over Donbass and southern Ukraine".
The Russian military official’s statement came as President Vladimir Putin announced that his country’s army had managed to control the city of Mariupol in the south, despite the continued siege of a factory where a large number of Ukrainian soldiers are holed up, after they refused to surrender.
Minkayev explained, that "The goal is not to establish a land bridge between the Donbass region and the Crimea, which was annexed in 2014, but to achieve control over all the ports of the Black Sea, that is, to extend beyond the Sea of Azov".
In the meantime, the assessment of the US Department of Defense continues to question the Russian army’s control of the city of Mariupol, which is among the cities most affected by the war in Ukraine.
Mariupol is of great strategic importance to Russia, both because it provides an outlet on the Sea of Azov, and in view of Moscow’s strategy in eastern Ukraine.
Military estimates indicate that the Russian army intends to tighten its grip on the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the Donbass region in the east, by attacking north from Kharkiv, and in the south through Mariupol.
Following the statements of the Russian general, there are those who believe that other cities in southern Ukraine, such as Odessa, may witness a similar fate to Mariupol soon.
When the Russian military operations began in Ukraine, on the twenty-fourth of last February, Putin did not say that his country wanted to carve out land from the neighboring country.
The Russian president said at the time that the goal of military operations was the disarmament of Ukraine, as well as "redeem it" Who said it "Nazi ruling elite" Working on "Persecution of belonging to Russian nationalism".
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General Rustam Minnikayev said, in statements to Russian media outlets: “Since the start of the second phase of… military operation Among the special tasks, one of the tasks was for the army to tighten its control over Donbass and southern Ukraine“.
The Russian military official’s statement came as President Vladimir Putin announced that his country’s army had managed to control the city of Mariupol in the south, despite the continued siege of a factory where a large number of Ukrainian soldiers are holed up, after they refused to surrender.
“The goal is not to establish a land bridge between the Donbass region and the Crimea, which was annexed in 2014, but to achieve control over all the ports of the Black Sea, that is, to extend beyond the Sea of Azov,” Minkayev explained.
In the meantime, the assessment of the US Department of Defense continues to question the Russian army’s control of the city of Mariupol, which is among the cities most affected by the war in Ukraine.
Mariupol is of great strategic importance to Russia, both because it provides an outlet on the Sea of Azov, and in view of Moscow’s strategy in eastern Ukraine.
Military estimates indicate that the Russian army intends to tighten its grip on the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the Donbass region in the east, by attacking north from Kharkiv, and in the south through Mariupol.
Following the statements of the Russian general, there are those who believe that other cities in southern Ukraine, such as Odessa, may witness a similar fate to Mariupol soon.
When the Russian military operations began in Ukraine, on the twenty-fourth of last February, Putin did not say that his country wanted to carve out land from the neighboring country.
The Russian president said at the time that the goal of the military operations was to disarm Ukraine, as well as ” rid it” of what he said was a “Nazi ruling elite” working on “the persecution of belonging to Russian nationalism”.