On Sunday, US and Ukrainian officials addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin's likelihood to push his assault from southern Ukraine's Donbas area into Moldova, a former Soviet state and non-NATO member in Eastern Europe.
In an interview with NBC's Meet the Press, deputy national security advisor Jon Finer said that Russian soldiers still have a lot of battling to do and that Ukrainians will be extremely effective in keeping them off.
Putin's Next Step is to Invade Moldova
When asked how the Biden administration's war strategy would alter if Russia moved closer to Moldova, Finer said the US had proven a capacity to be agile and to adapt our support and approach as the Russian war goals have evolved.
Finer's comments come after Russian news media reported last Friday that Rustam Minnekayev, the deputy commander of Russia's central military region, claimed that as part of a new attack in Ukraine, Russia wants to seize full control of the Donbas and the southern half of the nation.
Transdniestria, often known as Transnistria, is a Moldovan breakaway territory bordering Ukraine to the southwest. Moldova, like Ukraine, was a member of the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991 by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
Minnekayev is also claimed to have stated that Russia intends to build a land corridor between the Donbas with Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula south of Ukraine that Russia invaded and occupied unlawfully in 2014, according to Politico.
The assertion by a Russian general that Moscow intends to build a corridor through southern Ukraine to Transnistria has fueled concern that Vladimir Putin may expand his invasion into other European nations. Rustam Minnekaev, acting commander of Russia's Central Military District, made a remark on Friday that might be a hint at Moscow's military objectives.
Despite Transnistria being inside Moldova's boundaries, Chisinau (the capital) has no authority over the breakaway Russian-speaking region that exists between the Dniester River and the Moldovan-Ukrainian border. Transnistria declared independence from Moldova when the Soviet Union collapsed, provoking conflict and Russian intervention, as per Newsweek.
The last surviving Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol have taken residence within the massive Azovstal industrial complex, which Putin ordered to be blockaded, thereby committing the soldiers and people inside to death.
Russia said today it was willing to halt shooting to allow trapped militants to flee the facility with any civilians, as the defense ministry slammed 'baseless' suggestions that the factory would be closed with people inside, as Putin had ordered. The Russian leader further accused Kyiv of refusing to accept the surrender of their Mariupol forces.
Mariupol is located between Russian separatist-controlled territory and Crimea, and its annexation would allow Russia to connect the two areas. The regions that are today known as Ukraine were known as Novorossiya - or New Russia - during the tsarist period.
Russia Plans Create a Land Corridor to Moldova
The Russian foreign ministry praised the 1792 Jassy Treaty between the Russian and Ottoman empires, which gave the Russian Empire control of the whole northern Black Sea coast from the Dniester to the Kuban, including Crimea.
Putin has had his sights set on tearing Ukraine apart for years, and Maj Gen Minnekayev's statements just confirmed Putin's wish. According to Russia's defense ministry, the country targeted 58 military targets, including locations where soldiers, fuel depots, and military equipment were gathered.
According to the ministry, high-precision missiles were used to strike three targets in Ukraine, including an S-300 air defense system and a significant group of Ukrainian troops and their equipment.
However, Putin's victories are continuing to come at a high cost, with three more majors killed in the fighting. Putin has been informed of a total of 30,557 deaths among the armed services and privately hired combatants, according to the online source General SVR. As of 6 am Moscow time today, this comprised 23,655 armed military members.
Although the allegation could not be substantiated, some estimates place the figure at much over 20,000. Russia's inability to reveal the number of people killed in the sinking of the Moskva cruiser, the Black Sea Fleet's flagship, after it was damaged by Ukrainian missiles is one example of the secret death toll.
The assassinations show Russia's terrible losses and suffering as a result of the president's military expedition. Among his top brass, he is said to have lost eight generals and 35 colonels. Flags placed near the graves of those murdered reveal that they were among Russia's most elite and well-trained paratroopers and GRU military intelligence special troops, Daily Mail reported.
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