Russia’s defense minister and the secretary of Russia’s powerful Security Council both hinted on Tuesday that Moscow will have to fight a long fight in Ukraine to achieve the goals of its intervention, which has entered its fourth month.
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“We continue the special military operation until all objectives are achieved, regardless of the enormous Western aid to the Kyiv regime and the unprecedented pressure of sanctions,” Minister Sergei Shoigu said during a videoconference. with counterparts from the former USSR partially broadcast on television.
According to him, Russian efforts to avoid civilian casualties “are, of course, slowing down the tempo of the offensive, but that is deliberate.”
Earlier, in a rare interview with Russian newspaper Argoumenty i Fakty, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said the military operations would last as long as necessary.
“We are not running after deadlines,” he said, noting that “the goals set by the president (Vladimir Putin) will be met.” “It cannot be otherwise, the truth is on our side,” he added.
Russia launched a major military offensive against Ukraine three months ago to the day, but faced with fierce Ukrainian resistance, Moscow had to give up taking Kyiv and announced to concentrate its operations in the east.
But, there too, despite fierce fighting for three months and undoubtedly very heavy losses on both sides, the Russian army is advancing only with great difficulty, suggesting a long conflict of attrition.
The stated objectives of the Kremlin are the “denazification” of Ukraine and the securing of the eastern territories, the Donbass, which are mainly Russian-speaking, because Moscow accuses the Ukrainian authorities of having perpetrated an alleged genocide there.
