Kremlin still aiming for Ukraine regime change, says Putin ally Medvedev
Security Council head seems to contradict military chiefs’ claim that main phase is complete
ONE of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies has insisted Russia still wants to topple the Ukrainian government as the Kremlin appeared to contradict its generals.
Dmitriy Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian Security Council, said that a key aim for the Kremlin was to “de-Nazify” Ukraine – the Kremlin’s code for regime change.
It came after Russia’s three top generals said during a briefing on Friday that the main phase of their military operation was now over and that they intended to focus on eastern Ukraine.
Mr Medvedev’s statement came only a few hours before Russian missiles hit Lviv, which lies near the border with Poland, for the first time.
In an interview with a Russian news agency, the former president said: “The special operation is aimed at, namely, the neutral status of Ukraine, its demilitarisation, the refusal to use Nazi ideological laws that were adopted by Ukraine.”
Recent Western intelligence reports have said Russia’s exhausted army is considering pulling back to regroup after a month of fierce resistance from Ukrainians after failing to achieve key objectives including the capital Kyiv.
The intelligence appeared to tally with the remarks from the three generals who claimed on Friday that the first phase of the Russian military operation was now over and focus would be shifted to eastern Ukraine and the “liberation” of the Donbas region.
Yesterday, the Ukrainian authorities said they had killed Lt Gen Yakov Rezantsev who had been commanding Russia’s forces around the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.
Gen Rezantsev has, infamously, been credited with predicting that Russia’s war in Ukraine would be over within a few hours. Instead, Ukrainian forces have now said that they are close to retaking Kherson, the first city captured by Russia during the invasion.
Earlier in March, Mr Putin ordered the arrest of Maj Gen Roman Gavrilov, the deputy head of Russia’s national guard for “leaking information to the enemy”.
The Lviv blast near the Polish border, which occurred while US president Joe Biden was visiting Warsaw, contradicts the suggestion by the generals that the Kremlin might now be slowing its offensive.
Mr Medvedev said that relations between the West and Russia were now worse than even during the Cold War.
“The state of relations between the Russian Federation and the Western world, the Anglo-Saxon civilisation in the broad sense of the word, led by the United States of America, is worse than, probably, in 1960-1970, this is beyond any doubt,” he said.
Mr Medvedev is one of Mr Putin’s closest and most trusted advisers. He has previously served as prime minister under Mr Putin and stepped in to act as president in 2008-12 when Russia’s then-constitution demanded that Mr Putin stand aside.
Ukrainian military intelligence assessment of Russian army manoeuvres around Kyiv also show that the Kremlin wants to continue its invasion rather than retreat.
“Russian forces continue taking measures to restore the combat capability of their units, replenish ammunition, petroleum, oil and lubricants in order to prepare for the resumption of the offensive operations,” the Ukrainian military said. Russian men have also said that military recruitment centres in Russia have started to make contact with them ahead of a possible mass mobilisation of forces.
Separately, Gen Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, appeared in a video briefing his top military advisers for the first time in two weeks.
The normally media-friendly defence minister’s unusual absence from TV had triggered speculation that he was ill. Ukrainian ministers have been fuelling this speculation by suggesting that he had had a heart attack.
In his briefing to his advisers, Gen Shoigu urged them to keep up the steady supply of weapons and ammunition to frontline soldiers in Ukraine.
He also highlighted Russia’s eagerness to remain in the fight and to keep its nuclear arsenal at the front of its enemies’ calculations.
“We continue ahead-of-schedule delivery of weaponry and equipment by means of credits,” he said, referring to the impact of the Western sanctions.
“The priorities are long-range, highprecision weapons, aircraft equipment and maintenance of engagement readiness of strategic nuclear forces.”