Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Moscow is just starting with its operation in Ukraine in a stark warning to those hoping that his country will be defeated militarily in Ukraine.
The president's remarks were made in a meeting with parliamentary leaders where he claimed that western support for Ukraine would only prolong the war. Putin, who first launched his war against Ukraine in February and has taken maximalist positions for any peace deal, said that the "West wants to fight us until the last Ukrainian."
Just Getting Started
Putin argued that Western nations were doing so because they want to weaken Russia and "enforce its version of the global order." The statements come as Moscow appears to be preparing for the next phase of its military offensive in Ukraine's eastern borderlands as it completes the capture of Luhansk, which is one of two administrative regions of the broader Donbas region.
Roughly half of Donetsk, the other administrative region, remains under Ukrainian control and that is where Moscow's focus will now shift after its effective, but costly, offensive in Luhansk. Russia has continued to shell Ukrainian positions in Donetsk but has not announced any territorial gains in the four days since claiming control of Lysychansk, as per Axios.
Both Russia and Ukraine have taken heavy losses in the battle for the Donbas region; but Moscow had the advantage in manpower and, in particular, in artillery. Several military analysts expect that the balance will shift over time as Kyiv trains additional forces and integrates NATO-caliber weaponry in its fight against its invader.
Despite saying that Russia's goal in the war was to liberate the Donbas region, most of the area is now utterly destroyed due to the fighting. On the other hand, the head of Russia's security council, Nikolai Patrushev, reiterated this week Moscow's initial, broader objective to "demilitarize" all of Ukraine.
According to Yahoo News, Russian authorities also accused the West of waging a proxy war against it by hammering its economy with sanctions and stepping up the supply of advanced weapons to Ukraine. But while Putin boasted of his country's potential rise in aggression, he referred to the possibility of negotiations.
Russia-Ukraine War
Despite the massive advance of the Russian force, the progress has been far slower than what many analysts initially predicted. It also comes as Moscow's troops were beaten back in initial attempts to take the capital, Kyiv, and the second city, Kharkiv.
Ukraine has spoken of its desire to drive Russia out of all the territory that it has seized after it has been emboldened by Western support and the heavy losses it has inflicted on its opponent. Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukraine's chief negotiator, dismissed Putin's notion of a plan directed against Russia by the West.
In a Twitter post, Podolyak gave a list of conditions that he said would get his delegation back to the table. This includes ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian troops from occupied Ukrainian territories, the return of kidnapped citizens, extradition of war criminals, reparations mechanism, and recognition of Ukraine's sovereign rights, the New York Post reported.
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