Moscow aims to control all of southern Ukraine, Russian general says
- If it succeeds, its forces would gain access to a Russian-occupied part of Moldova in the west and cut off Ukraine’s entire coastline
- A Kremlin spokesman declined to comment when asked if Moscow had expanded the goals of its operation
Moscow wants to take full control over southern Ukraine, a Russian general said on Friday, a statement Ukraine said gave the lie to Russia’s previous assertions that it had no territorial ambitions.
Rustam Minnekayev, deputy commander of Russia’s central military district, was quoted by Russian state news agencies as saying full control over southern Ukraine would give it access to a breakaway, Russian-occupied part of Moldova in the west.
That would cut off Ukraine’s entire coastline and mean pushing hundreds of miles west beyond current lines, past the major Ukrainian cities of Mykolayiv and Odesa.
Moscow says it is conducting a “special military operation” to demilitarise Ukraine and liberate its population from people it calls dangerous nationalists. Ukraine and its Western allies say Russia’s invasion is an unjustified war of aggression.
In a late-night address, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia has designs on capturing other countries as well.
“All the nations that, like us, believe in the victory of life over death must fight with us. They must help us, because we are the first in line. And who will come next?” Zelensky said.