Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russian forces want to take control of Donbas and southern regions of Ukraine.
In a video address on the 2nd (local time), President Zelensky said, “We know that the enemy can intensify its oppression in the East through reserve forces,” the Guardian reported. “The Russian goal is to capture both Donbas and southern Ukraine,” he said.
However, he said, “Ukrainian forces have recaptured Kiiu and Chernivu. “The Ukrainian flag is growing in territories once occupied by Russian forces,” he said. “Our goal is to protect our freedom, our land and our people.”
President Zelensky praised the courage and resilience of those trying to defend the Ukrainian city, but complained that Ukraine had not yet received enough air defense missiles from the West.
Meanwhile, Russia plans to focus its military operations on the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
On the 25th of last month, Sergei Rudskoy, head of the operations department of the General Staff of the Russian Army, said, “The main operation of the first stage has been completed. I was able to do it,” he said.
(Seoul = News 1)