At the same time that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is opening up to a compromise over eastern parts of Ukraine, former Defense Minister Ambassador Dessen believes Russia has relinquished control of all of Ukraine.
Diesen explains this from them Three-day-old statements by Sergey RudskoyChief of the General Staff of the Russian Army.
He said Russia would now focus on the “complete liberation” of the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine. This comes after Russian forces for a long time tried to capture several cities in central Ukraine, among which was the capital, Kyiv.
The Russian transformation is due to the fact that Russia’s original plan failed, believes Dessen, who is currently at the Norwegian Defense Research Corporation.
– Russia appears to have given up control of all of Ukraine, as it was clearly a target when the war began. Instead, it appears that they want to consolidate their control of the Donbass and Crimea regions so that they can claim these areas in any negotiations, Diesen tells VG.
Putin’s political defeat
On Sunday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came out and said that Calls for a settlement with Russia over the Donbass region.
It is precisely in order to negotiate such a settlement, Diesen believes that Russia will strengthen its positions in the region.
Fixing the fist in these areas is now the first priority. Then perhaps they will demand that Ukraine give up the territories in the negotiations.
In any case, this solution may seem like a political defeat for Putin, given the original Russian goal of “de-Nazification” and “disarmament” of Ukraine, which the Russians were not about to achieve.
– Seize the chance, the Russians are weak
But even in the lead-up to a possible settlement, Russian forces will face hard times, says Lt. Col. Pal Yedistbo of the War School.
He says the Russian army was downsized after the first month of the war.
– They do not have the strength to recruit, so they began to recruit new people. But it takes months to prepare larger groups of new recruits for battle, Ydstebø tells VG.
The presenter notes that the longer the war continues, the more tired the Russian army, the Russian society and the Russian economy, which suffers from very severe sanctions from the international community.
The Lieutenant Colonel believed that the Russian strategy in Ukraine now would be to preserve the territories they had hitherto captured, and then replenish them with new administrations, materials and supplies.
At the same time, it is likely that Ukraine will seize the opportunity while the Russians are weak and continue the attacks they have begun. They will do everything in their power to take advantage of the bad situation of the Russians and not allow them to rebuild their forces.
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