The goals of the Russian invasion are the occupation of Donbas and south of Ukraine in order to secure a ground corridor from Russia to Crimea and Transnistria.

This was stated by Rustam Minnekayev, Acting Commander of the Central Military District of the Russian Federation. Militarnyi reports about this with reference to the Russian media.

The ruscists General made these statements at the annual meeting of the Union of Defense Industry Enterprises of the Sverdlovsk region.

“Since the beginning of the second phase of the special operation, which has started literally two days ago, one of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over Donbas and southern Ukraine. This will provide a land corridor to Crimea,” Minnekaev said.

He added that controlling the south of Ukraine would open “another way to Transnistria, where there also are instances of oppressing the Russian-speaking population”.

Previously, Russia never officially announced its intention to occupy the southern Ukrainian regions. Russian President Putin and Defense Minister Shoigu have argued that the goals of the “second phase” are to establish control over Donbas.

Despite this, Russia has already in fact occupied the Kherson region, some settlements of the Mykolayiv region, and south of the Zaporizhia region.