(Read full article on unian.net)

Russia during the “second phase” of the war against Ukraine plans to completely occupy the Donbas and southern Ukraine.

This was stated by Deputy Commander of the Central Military District Rustam Minnekayev, TASS reports .

According to him, control over the Donbass will allow creating a land corridor to the occupied Crimea and “influencing the vital facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

Control over the south of Ukraine will give Russia another outlet to Transnistria (part of Moldova occupied by the Russian Federation – UNIAN), where allegedly “the facts of oppression of the Russian-speaking population are noted.”

Recall that earlier the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, announced “the next phase of the special operation in Ukraine.” According to Lavrov, the goal of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was “the complete liberation of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics.”