Russian President Vladimir Putin has been reelected in a landslide victory in an election with big turnout, so he comes fortified into a new phase of the war in Ukraine.
While celebrating 10 years of the return of Crimea to Russian rule, Putin said that Moscow ‘will not relent’ in Ukraine, and plans to create a buffer zone to protect itself against long-range Ukrainian strikes and cross-border raids.
Associated Press reported:
“The Kremlin’s forces have made battlefield progress as Kyiv’s troops struggle with a severe shortage of artillery shells and exhausted front-line units after more than two years of war. The front line stretches over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) across eastern and southern Ukraine.
Advances have been slow and costly, and Ukraine has increasingly used its long-range firepower to hit oil refineries and depots deep inside Russia. Also, groups claiming to be Ukraine-based Russian opponents of the Kremlin have launched cross-border incursions.
‘We will be forced at some point, when we consider it necessary, to create a certain ‘sanitary zone’ on the territories controlled by the (Ukrainian government)’, Putin said late Sunday. This ‘security zone would be quite difficult to penetrate using the foreign-made strike assets at the enemy’s disposal’.”
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Having secured his fifth six-year term, Putin talked about the goals in Ukraine.
“Putin again warned the West against deploying troops to Ukraine. A possible conflict between Russia and NATO would put the world ‘a step away’ from World War III, he said.
[…] Commenting on the prospects for peace talks with Kyiv, Putin reaffirmed that Russia remains open to negotiations but won’t be lured into a truce that will allow Ukraine to rearm.”
Mewanhile, Russian forces continue their offensives to break Ukraine’s defenses ahead of a renewed push planned for summer, according to the American Think Tank Institute for the Study of War.
Newsweek reported:
“The independent Washington, D.C.-based think tank said Friday that Russia’s troops are trying ‘to maintain the tempo’ of operations in Ukraine’s east. This is to stop Kiev’s forces from stabilizing their defensive lines, which analysts have said is not happening quickly enough.
As they continue their offensives, Russian forces are readying themselves for a new push in summer and are concentrating on driving as far west of Avdiivka as they can before Ukraine establishes a harder-to-penetrate line in the area, the ISW said.
Following Russia’s capture of Avdiivka, in the Donetsk oblast last month, one ISW map shows how Russia forces had this week captured the town Nevelske and advanced in Pervomaiske to the southwest, and Berdychi to the northwest. Another map of the Luhansk oblast showed Russian advances on Synkivka, north of Bakhmut.”
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