Putin will accept only one thing - the complete surrender of Ukraine

There are currently no indications that Russia is ready to accept anything less than the surrender of Ukraine. Russia is ready to spend a significant amount of equipment, manpower and time to achieve this goal. This is stated in a new report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The Kremlin is trying hard to present Russian forces as relentlessly advancing and Russian victory as inevitable

“These efforts are aimed at hiding the reality that Russian troops are achieving only minimal successes at a disproportionate cost in human resources and that Russia is unlikely to achieve strategic objectives in the short or medium term“, analysts believe.

The ISW sees no signs that the Kremlin is willing to accept anything less than Ukraine's surrender, and the Russian Federation remains prepared to expend significant human, material and time resources to achieve its objectives on the battlefield if necessary.

“The Kremlin is promoting a false narrative that Russia will inevitably seize the territory it wants and that Ukraine is therefore responsible for prolonging the war by refusing to surrender. However, Russian forces are actually making creeping, small territorial advances with very high casualties. Russia, not Ukraine, has repeatedly demonstrated that its refusal to compromise or engage in good faith negotiations is the reason for the lack of peace,“ the ISW report says.

Why Putin wants Donbas

A few days ago, the head of the Council of Reservists of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Ivan Tymochko, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is frightened even by the very talks about transferring Tomahawks to Ukraine and, by claiming Donbas, is trying to understand how ready world leaders and Ukraine as a whole are to negotiate with him.

He recalled that Putin justifies the so-called ''Special Military Operation'', saying that they are going to Ukraine for the people of Donbas.

Now, according to Tymochko, if Putin does not seize the Donetsk region, he may be removed from power, if not by the Russian military-political elites, it may have serious claims at the level of the same military in Russia.