Russia to change war strategy
RUSSIA: Russia has reframed its war goals in Ukraine in a way that may make it easier for President Vladimir Putin to claim a face-saving victory despite a woeful campaign in which his Army has suffered humiliating setbacks, military analysts say. Russia attacked its neighbour by land, air and sea on February 24 and pushed as far as the capital Kyiv – where its forces have been stalled for weeks – in what Ukraine and the West said was a bid to topple the democratic Government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
On Friday, however, a senior military official said the real objective was to “liberate” the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian army for the past eight years.
“The main objectives of the first stage of the operation have generally been accomplished,” said Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operational Directorate.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said that 12 journalists have been killed in the country since Russia began its war on February 24.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Venediktova said besides the 12 victims, there were 10 other journalists who “have received injuries of varying severity”, Ukayinska Pravda reported.
According to the Prosecutor General, the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations indicates that the Russians have committed crimes against at least 56 members of the media, 15 of them citizens of other countries.
Of the 15, four are from the UK; two each from the Czech Republic, Denmark, the US, United Arab Emirates; and one from Switzerland.
Meanwhile, more than 3.8 million refugees have left Ukraine as of Saturday while an estimated 6.5 million people have been displaced within the country over 10 million people, almost a quarter of the population had left their homes in Ukraine, according to UNICEF.
Poland has received more refugees from Ukraine than all other European countries combined. Other neighbouring countries that have received refugees are Romania, Moldova, Hungary and Slovakia. – THE INDUSTAN TIMES, IANS