The Russian army has a political order from Vladimir Putin, which will have a direct impact on the front by April, when the weather improves. This was stated in an interview with OBOZ.ua by military expert Vladislav Seleznyov.
According to him, the Russian army has a political order from the political leadership of the Russian Federation not to reduce the pressure on the Ukrainian forces and to continue to act according to the familiar scheme: to look for weak spots in the Ukrainian defense and, if it finds them, to send additional forces and resources there.
The pressure from the Russian army is unlikely to decrease, said Seleznyov, according to whom Putin and his entourage are interested in full control over the entire territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. After that, Moscow wants control over two more regions of Ukraine, which are also “included” in the Russian Federation - Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. Elsewhere in Ukraine, the Kremlin wants to create buffer zones.
As of today, the following is noticeable on the front - the intensity of military operations is not decreasing, but the effectiveness of the Russians in terms of territorial acquisitions is very modest. There are two reasons: the first is the weather. The weather conditions currently do not allow the Russian infantry to advance, they even create problems for drone operators. The second is that key battles are currently being fought on the front in urban conditions, which are the most unfavorable from a military point of view.
Vladislav Seleznyov believes that Putin is preparing a large-scale offensive in April, hoping to occupy more Ukrainian lands. In the spring, the Russian army will increase the scale of offensive operations.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that Russian troops will continue to fight in Ukraine until Kiev makes the appropriate “decisions” to end the war, Reuters reported. Russia's position remains unchanged and is known to both Ukrainian and American negotiators, Peskov said. A new stage of peace talks began today in Abu Dhabi. Ukraine rejects Russia's demand to give up the territories it still controls in Donbas. Moscow's forces have been trying to seize them for the fourth year.