Kyiv / Moscow: Russia has announced that it has completed the first phase of its military operation, paving the way for a month – long occupation of Ukraine. Russia’s military chief, Sergei Rudyskoye, has said the focus will now be on eastern Ukraine.
Russia has said it aims to liberate the Donbass region, which is dominated by pro – Russian rebels. Sergei Rudoskoi, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian General Staff, said that the Ukrainian armed forces were clearly reducing their combat capabilities and would now focus on their main objective.
Rudoskoi’s statement comes against a backdrop of stalled Russian troops advancing on the major Ukrainian cities of Kiev and Kharkiv. Russia, which has also failed to gain air dominance over Ukraine, has lost a number of troops since the start of the invasion.
The world and experts are wondering what Russia will do with the Ukrainian cities they have besieged. Rudyskoi said the move was aimed at destroying Ukraine’s military equipment, equipment and military, thereby preventing Ukrainian troops from reorganizing in the Donbass region, and that this would continue until the liberation of the Donetsk and Luhassnik regions was possible. At least 1351 Russian soldiers were killed and 3,825 wounded, Rodzkoi told a news conference yesterday. But U.S. and NATO sources put the death toll on Russia at more than 10,000.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selensky has stepped up pressure for talks after Russia signaled its withdrawal. Meanwhile, Russian forces have taken control of the town of Slavodik, where workers at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, the world’s largest nuclear disaster, live.
The situation is dire in Mariupol, a port city where street fighting is taking place. Ukraine’s prosecutor general says 136 children have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the Russian offensive.
