KYIV, April 19 (Reuters) – The purpose of Russia’s new army offensive in east Ukraine is to seize land, set up an overground hyperlink between territories within the east and Crimea, and crush Ukraine’s armed forces, Ukraine’s defence ministry stated on Tuesday.
Ministry spokesperson Oleksandr Motuznyak stated Russian forces have been attacking alongside the complete frontline in jap Ukraine, urgent their siege of Mariupol within the south and attempting to encircle cities within the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.
“The purpose is to defeat the Ukrainian forces, to determine management over the territory of the Luhansk and Donetsk areas and set up a land hall to Crimea,” Motuznyak instructed a briefing.
Register now for FREE limitless entry to Reuters.com
Russian-backed separatists who rose up in 2014 have declared so-called individuals’s republics in territory they management in elements of the Luhansk and Donetsk areas.
Ukrainian officers have repeatedly stated Moscow desires to grab Mariupol and all of the territory that Ukrainian authorities forces nonetheless maintain in Luhansk and Donetsk to create a land hyperlink with Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed in 2014.
“The primary efforts are to interrupt by way of the positions held by Ukrainian troops and so they haven’t stopped attempting to realize full management over Mariupol,” Motuznyak stated.
Summing up Russia’s ways, he stated: “Often, they’re: highly effective artillery preparation, an try and storm explicit positions, makes an attempt to stymie the actions of models of Ukraine’s armed forces, makes an attempt to encompass our models, and to seize settlements. Russia is principally waging warfare in line with the textbooks of the Soviet period.”
Register now for FREE limitless entry to Reuters.com
Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Aleksandar Vasovic and Max Hunder, Modifying by Timothy Heritage
Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Rules.
