As the Ukrainian forces stepped up their offensive to recapture towns outside Kyiv, Russia hinted on Friday that it was scaling down its ambitions in Ukraine so as to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists in the East.
In an announcement that displayed limited Russian goals in Ukraine, the Russian Defence Ministry said that the first phase of the Russian operation was almost complete and that it would now focus on the eastern Donbass region.
“The combat potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been considerably reduced, which … makes it possible to focus our core efforts on achieving the main goal, the liberation of Donbass,” said Sergei Rudskoi, the chief of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operational Directorate.
Military analysts said that reworking the goals might make it easier for President Putin to assert a face-saving victory. Moscow had earlier stated that its goals included demilitarizing Ukraine. Western officials have dismissed the point as a baseless excuse for a war with the ultimate aim to topple the Ukrainian government.
Russian troops have failed to capture any major city since invading Ukraine a month back as it has been facing stiff resistance from the Ukrainian troops.
Till now, over 3.7 million of the population has fled the country, with almost of the people to the neighbouring Poland.
“Hundreds of thousands of people are being cut off from help by Russian forces and are besieged in places like Mariupol,” Biden said, pointing to the hard pressed southeastern port of Mariupol.
“It’s like something out of a science fiction movie,” President Biden added.
The ground forces near capital Kyiv have been frozen for more than weeks with two primary Russian armoured columns stuck to the northwest and east of the capital. A British intelligence report cited a Ukrainian counter-offensive operation that had managed to push the Russian forces back in the east.
“Ukrainian counter-attacks, and Russian forces falling back on overextended supply lines, have allowed Ukraine to reoccupy towns and defensive positions up to 35 km east of Kyiv,” the report said. Ukraine has been supplied with arms and ammunitions by several countries, including United States, Britain, France, Netherlands and many more.
The Interfax news agency reported as the Russian defence ministry saying that 1,351 soldiers had been killed and 3,825 wounded. However, Ukraine has said that around 15,000 Russian soldiers have lost their lives.
Volodymyr Borysenko, the mayor of Boryspol said that around 20,000 civilians had evacuated the area, in an answer to a call to clear out the area so that the Ukrainian troops could proceed with the counter-attack operations.
“Ukrainian forces recaptured a nearby village the previous day and would have pushed on but halted to avoid putting civilians in danger,” Borysenko said.
On the other main front just outside Kyiv, to the capital’s northwest, the Ukrainian forces have been pushing hard so as to encircle the Russian troops in the suburbs of Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel, which has been reduced to ruins due to heavy fighting.
In Bucha, a small team of Ukrainian forces armed with anti-tank missiles was seen digging foxholes. The United Nations said it had confirmed reports of 1,081 civilian deaths and 1,707 injuries in Ukraine since the invasion began on the 24th of February, adding that the real count could be much higher.
Multiple rounds of peace talks have failed to make any noteworthy progress. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a video address on Friday, said that the fight put up by his troops had dealt Russia “powerful blows”.
“Our defenders are leading the leadership in Moscow to a simple and logical idea: we must talk, talk meaningfully, urgently and fairly,” Zelenskiy said.
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