According to the head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, now the Russian elite has only one goal – to preserve their own regime.
Reznikov said that the strategic goal of the Russians is to sit down at the negotiating table with Ukraine on their own terms, and this is the reason for the threats of escalation from Moscow. According to him, the Russians “want to save face” and present themselves as winners.
The Minister of Defense explained that the Russians are striving to completely capture the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, trying to present their military operation as successful for their electorate. He noted that the Russian military is seeking to take control of Bakhmut, a Ukrainian stronghold in the Donetsk region, to this end.
Reznikov also stressed that Ukraine will not retreat from its position and will begin negotiations with Moscow only after Russian troops are withdrawn from Ukrainian territories.
Russia occupied Crimea after a power blockade of Ukrainian military units and illegal referendum on March 16, 2014. “Accession” of the peninsula to the Russian Federation is not recognized by Ukraine and most countries of the world.
After the annexation of Crimea, Russia launched military aggression in eastern Ukraine and during 2014-2015 was able to seize part of the territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, putting pro-Russian militants from the so-called “LPR” and “DPR” in charge of them.
February 24, 2022 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the invasion of Ukraine under the guise of “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine. Initially, according to the SBU, Putin expected to seize Ukraine in a few days. But blitzkrieg failed.
The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly stated that they are pursuing the goal of de-occupying all Ukrainian territories seized by Russia since 2014, including Crimea.
The war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine end by early summer 2023, predicted the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kirill Budanov in mid-October. “For starters” Ukraine will reach the borders of 1991, the head of intelligence said.
The war that Russia started in 2022 will end not only with the return of the occupied territories to Ukraine, but also demilitarization of the border area of the Russian Federation to a depth of 50–100 km, said Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, on December 7, 2022. On January 10, 2023, he expressed confidence that Ukraine will end the war unleashed by Russia in 2023.
