Russia wants to reach the administrative borders of Donbas by spring – OP

Russia has not abandoned its plans to completely seize Donbas and is trying to reach the administrative borders of the region in the near future.

This was reported by LB.ua with reference to the Deputy Head of the President’s Office, Pavlo Palisa.

According to him, the Russian military command sets the task of reaching the administrative border of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by the end of March – beginning of April. At the same time, Palisa doubts that Russia has real capabilities for this.

“These deadlines have been postponed many times. I personally do not see that Russia is capable of completing this task within the specified time frame,” he noted.

In addition to Donbas, the occupiers, according to Palisa, plan to create so-called buffer zones in Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

He also noted that at the strategic level, Russia had previously considered plans for Odessa and Mykolaiv. However, currently, given its own capabilities, the Russian military leadership does not consider these directions realistic.

Palisa emphasized that Donbas remains the main goal of the Russian Federation, in parallel with efforts to create conditions for operational advancement in the Zaporizhia direction.

According to him, Russia seeks a quick strategic result, but against the backdrop of stabilization of the front, it has not been able to achieve operational success. So far, he emphasized, only the Ukrainian side has managed to achieve such success.

It was previously reported that the Russian occupation army had advanced in Vovchansk, Kharkiv region, as well as near Dronivka and Pazeno, in the Donetsk region.

As a reminder, as of January 20 , the Russian army occupied the village of Rybne in the Zaporizhia region and is advancing in the Donetsk region near Pokrovsk.