Russia's MoD says phase two of 'special operation' aims to establish control of Donbass

Russian troops have entered the crucial second phase of what it calls the 'special military operation' and now aim to connect the south of Russia with the Crimean territory annexed by the Russian forces in 2014 by land, the commander of the Russian troops in the Central Military District, Rustam Minnekaev, said. Kremlin troops are establishing the land corridor after they captured the strategic port city of Mariupol to the south. 

Despite that at least 2000 Ukrainian soldiers put a final defensive holdout to the city, Russian President Vladimir Putin asked his soldiers not to risk storming the giant steel plant where Ukraine’s Azov battalion is holed up in a maze of underground passages and bunkers. Instead, Putin claimed it victory of Mariupol calling the city “liberated.”

A view from the cockpit of a Russian Su-30 fighter jet as it takes part in a training mission in Krasnodar Region. Credit: Associated Press

Russia’s ‘Somalia’ battalion, the separatist military unit of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) was greeted as they returned after the siege of Mariupol. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu transferred the sovereignty of Ukrainian city of Mariupol under the Armed Forces of Russia. Furthermore he declared that the second phase of the offensive has begun. 

"From the beginning of the second phase of the special operation, it has already begun, literally two days ago, one of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over the Donbass and southern Ukraine,” commander of the troops of the Central Military District Rustam Minnekaev said, according to RIA.

“This will provide a land corridor to the Crimea,” he went on to explain during the annual meeting of the Union enterprises of the defense industry of the Sverdlovsk region.

Defensive battles start to gain control of city of Luhansk

Russia’s Ministry of Defense has claimed that its Armed Forces only strike at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops, and that the main goal of the operation is the liberation of Donbass, a Ukrainian territory that has witnessed 8 years of turmoil between Ukraine’s Army and pro-Russian separatists forces. After nearly two lethal months of heavy shelling that apparently levelled the city of Mariupol and caused widespread destruction, Russians has been able to declare victory over the most strategic southern city and has diverted the troops towards the eastern flank. Russian troops have launched defensive battles to gain control of west starting from the city of Luhansk.