ISW: Putin could have given the Russian military the task of seizing more territories, not big cities

From the actions of the Russian military on the front line, their priority remains unclear, since the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, could have assigned the Russian army the task of securing territorial assets, rather than capturing large settlements, write experts of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

“Putin said during his annual Direct Line televised news conference on December 19 that Russian troops were advancing not by ‘100, 200, 300 meters’ but by square kilometers along the entire front line, and Putin seems to be increasingly characterizing Russia’s advance square kilometers. instead of emphasizing the capture of individual settlements, as he did before,” analysts note.

Currently, the Russian military is about 10 kilometers from the border of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, ISW experts wrote based on the study of geolocation data, and “Putin may be putting pressure on the Russian military command to advance to the border rather than capture Pokrovsk at this time “.

In recent months, the reports of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine constantly mention the Pokrovsky and Kurakhiv directions as the places of the most active attacks by Russian forces. These destinations are located in the west of Donetsk region near its border with Dnipropetrovsk region.