On Thursday the Kremlin stated that it is still determined to seize parts of Eastern and Southern Ukraine claimed by Moscow.
The Kremlin still hasn’t fully defined its goals for its military campaign. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov seemed to have set limits on Ukraine territory Russia wanted to include as its own.
Moscow declared that it annexed four Ukrainian provinces – Donetsk and Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, after having held so-called referendums that were invalidated by Kyiv and the West.
Moscow did not fully control any of these provinces, nor was it able to determine how many of them it would annex.
Peskov answered a question on Thursday asking if Russia would consider incorporating additional territories beyond those four regions.
There is absolutely no doubt about that. There have not been any statements regarding this matter. There is still much work to do to free the territories. In a few new Russian Federation regions, there are territories under occupation that need to be released.
“I refer to part of Donetsk Republic as well as the Russian Federation that was then occupied by Ukrainian troops.”
The Russians have been forced from a part of Luhansk Province by Ukraine. Russia also retreated all of Kherson’s provinces that were under its control on the west bank Dnipro River. This includes the capital city, Kherson.
