Russia says it wants to take all of Donbas and unite it with Crimea

• Direct War in Ukraine, latest news

's military has

announced that it plans to take full control of

and southern

as part of the second phase of its 'military operation' against its neighboring country.

says it also plans to secure overland passage to Crimea.

The Russian Defense Ministry said yesterday that more than 1,000 Ukrainian fighters who had been holding out for weeks in

metallurgical complex , have surrendered

.

Resolving that flank will allow Moscow to concentrate resources along the eastern front.

From the US ,

has promised more weapons and has sent a message to

: "He will never manage to dominate and occupy all of

."

is going to secure a territory, the closest to its common historical past, which at the same time serves as a buffer to have its own calmer borders.

With a clear territorial conquest, Putin could seek a ceasefire, although he would be tough on negotiations.

But the Ukrainian armed forces can stop

's advance in

, and then the conflict could drag on.

It will be two months since the start of what

is trying to present as a special military operation.

Russian television indoctrinates the population with warmongering propaganda and racist messages towards

.

But what the outcome and length of the war will be remains unclear.

Kiev is militarily inferior, but

has shown weaknesses at every step it has taken.

He has now regrouped his forces in the east, but the units are not intact after the fruitless adventure in March.

Russia

wants to resolve the capture of the

steel plant as easily as possible .

His surrender would effectively signal the fall of

, a significant victory for

, which would once and for all allow its land bridge between the Crimean peninsula in the south (which

annexed in 2014) and territory Russian forces already hold in the south.

region

in the east.

Meanwhile, central Europe takes note.

Lithuania believes that NATO should increase its troop deployment to Lithuania and elsewhere on Europe's eastern flank following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Lithuania's president told Germany's foreign minister during a meeting in Vilnius on Friday.

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