Russia has drafted a new war strategy “in line” with the Kremlin’s plan for a long-term conflict with Ukraine, a recently released report has shown.
The invasion will enter its second year in February 2024, leaving both Moscow and Kyiv struggling under the pressure of the war effort and heavy losses.
German media has been reporting on Russia’s plans for the coming year, with sources claiming the Russian Army is strategising to “occupy Ukrainian territory beyond the four (illegally) annexed Ukrainian oblasts throughout 2024-2026.”
Russia unilaterally annexed the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in September 2022 following a sham referendum.
According to BILD, Moscow will be expanding its war efforts to completely annex the whole territories of Donetsk and Luhansk before then advancing into the Kharkiv region before the end of 2024.
READ MORE: Ukraine ‘in a mess’ as Russian troops make huge advances in Avdiivka and Bakhmut
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European Union leaders sought to paper over their inability to boost Ukraine’s coffers with a promised €50billion over the next four years, saying the funds will likely arrive next month after some more haggling between the bloc’s other 26 leaders and the longtime holdout, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Instead, they wanted Ukraine to revel in getting the nod to start membership talks that could mark a sea change in its fortunes – although the process could last well over a decade and be strewn with obstacles placed by any single member state.
Meanwhile, shelling wounded two people in Ukrainian-held parts of the Kherson region, regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said Saturday.
In Ukraine’s partially occupied southern Kherson region, the Russia-installed governor, Vladimir Saldo, reported on Telegram that Russian anti-aircraft units had downed at least 15 aerial targets near the town of Henichesk.
Saldo said later Saturday that a Ukrainian missile attack on a village in the Russia-held part of the region had killed two people.
