The Russians probably just wanted to surround Kyiv, to use it as a bargaining chip.
That has proved too difficult, so they are just trying to grab territory that has a high percentage of Russians, who can then hold it without too much army help.
so they are just trying to grab territory that has a high percentage of Russians,
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Well, they are doing it by the way of killing and maiming them.
What is really interesting in this war is how the Russian speakers seem to support Ukraine, and how many Russians were killed by the Russians!
The areas inhabited by Ukrainians are still pretty much intact. I bet huge majority of the civilians killed by Russian army are ethnic Russians.
That’s probably why the ethnics Russians are with Ukraine!
The problem with that plan is that he who once said they were Russian now don’t want anything to do with Putin’s Russia.
Mariupol was a Russian speaking city. But they didn’t and don’t want to fall to Putin