First stage of army operation in Ukraine full, most important purpose to ‘liberate’ Donbas, says Russia

The ‘first stage’ of Russia’s army operation in Ukraine is now full, in keeping with a high Russian common.

Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy, first deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff, mentioned at a briefing on Friday, “In general, the main tasks of the first stage of the operation have been completed. The combat potential of the armed forces of Ukraine has been significantly reduced, allowing us, I emphasise again, to focus the main efforts on achieving the main goal – the liberation of Donbas.”

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had mentioned the conflict was going “according to plan”.

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This comes at the same time as Russia’s advances seem to have stalled round Ukraine’s Kyiv and Kharkiv. Additionally, a number of Russian troopers have died in Ukraine for the reason that conflict started. As per a CNN report, Russia has additionally failed to attain air superiority in Ukraine.

At the briefing, Rudskoy mentioned that 1,351 Russian army personnel have been killed in Ukraine to date and three,825 wounded. However, as per Nato, as much as 15,000 Russian troops have died within the conflict.

‘LIBERATING’ DONBAS

Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy emphasised on Friday that Russia’s purpose is to ‘liberate’ the Donbas area of Ukraine.

Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy mentioned, “The public and individual experts are wondering what we are doing in the area of the blockaded Ukrainian cities. These actions are carried out with the aim of causing such damage to military infrastructure, equipment, personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the results of which allow us not only to tie down their forces and prevent them from strengthening their grouping in the Donbas, but also will not allow them to do this until the Russian army completely liberates the territories of the DPR and LNR.”

DPR and LNR refer to the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, separatist regions of Donbas in eastern Ukraine that Russia recognised prior to the invasion.

“Initially, we did not plan to storm them in order to prevent destruction and minimise losses among personnel and civilians. And although we do not exclude such a possibility, however, as individual groupings complete the tasks set, and they are successfully solved, our forces and means will be concentrated on the main thing — the complete liberation of Donbas,” Rudskoy mentioned.

Although the Russian army has claimed it’s not focusing on civilians, there may be overwhelming proof that implies the other.