Have Russia's priorities shifted in Ukraine? Why are Kharkiv and Zaporozhye targeted along with Donbass?

Kiev - The

exit of Russian forces from the Kiev, Chernihiv and Sumy regions in the north of Ukraine are two completely contradictory accounts between Kiev and Moscow, and evidence confirmed by each side from its own point of view.

Kyiv sees the departure of the Russian forces as "escaping" under the impact of the strikes of its forces, and the liberation of the lands that the Russians controlled for several weeks in those areas.

As for Moscow, it considers that it "withdrew" as a goodwill gesture to advance the Istanbul negotiations process and focus on "liberating" the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of the Donbass region.

Between the two accounts, it remains certain that the exit of the Russian forces opened the files of "massacres and war crimes" in the city of Bucha and others, hampering the negotiation process, and did not end the bombing operations on several Ukrainian regions, and the focus was not limited to Donbass alone.

Neutral lands and land bridges

Ukraine confirms that lands in the regions of Kharkiv and Zaporozhye, adjacent to Donbass, are on the list of Russian targets in the east as well. Some officials even warn of opening a new front in the Dnepropetrovsk region as well.

To explain this, Al Jazeera Net spoke with the military analyst, Vladislav Vitko, and he said, "The Russian forces will be desperate to take over the entire Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the Donbass region, until the Kremlin considers it a victory, or all the goals of its own operation as it claims."

He continued, "The goal is really to focus on Donbass, but with the creation of a gray separating space around it that includes parts of the neighboring regions, because its complete acquisition is impossible, as it turned out, and for this reason, lands in Kharkiv and Zaporozhye are included in the list of goals."

"The list may also enter lands in the Dnepropetrovsk region, if Russia can actually advance in the Donetsk region to reach it," he added.

He pointed out that "Russia is also interested in establishing a permanent land bridge linking it to occupied Crimea, through Mariupol in Donetsk, and lands it already controls in Zaporozhye and adjacent Kherson."

Master Plan Failed

Officials respond to this "shift in Russian priorities" to the "failure of the master plan" to take over all of Ukraine, or all of its eastern regions.

On his visit yesterday to the Chernihiv region, the advisor in the Ukrainian Presidential Office Oleksiy Aristovich confirmed that "the resistance of the Ukrainian military and people's forces in the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions in the north" saved Ukraine from the specter of partition.

Aristovich's statement carried an indication that Russia was intending to advance through these areas towards the depth in the south, and from the southern regions towards the depth in the north.

In this context, he continued, "Our forces are advancing, liberating the lands of the Kherson region in the south, and the Russian forces are withdrawing in front of it. The plan to take possession of the eastern bank of Ukraine (relative to the Dnipro River that divides the country in two) has failed."

Attrition threatens the plans of the East

Returning to the focus on the Donbass region in the east, and the possibility of carving out areas around it in neighboring regions, Ukrainian officials assert that these plans will also fail, and they base this on "the attrition and its repercussions."

Adviser to the Ukrainian President, Mikhailo Podolyak, says that "the war will not continue. Russia does not want a long-term war of attrition, after it thought that it would launch a lightning war during which it would control Ukraine quickly and at the lowest cost."

In this regard, the military analyst, Vladislav Vitko, believes that "Kharkiv shocked the Russians more than others, because they thought it was the easiest for them. It quickly became clear that the Ukrainian defenses are strict and resilient strongly in all regions."

For this, Vitko says, "The expected battles in and around Donbass will be the most intense and difficult on both sides, and will turn into a war of attrition that will really burden Russia with more costs and sanctions. While Ukraine depends on the steadfastness of its forces, and on great Western financial and military support for this purpose," according to his opinion. .