Moscow signals plans for addition to ‘family’
Russia looks toward annexing parts of southeast Ukraine
KRAKOW, Poland — Fresh from its triumph over the last armed Ukrainian resistance in the devastated city of Mariupol, Russia appeared to be laying the groundwork for annexing swaths of southeast Ukraine, described by a high-ranking Kremlin official as having a “worthy place in our Russian family.’’
Marat Khusnullin, Russia’s deputy prime minister for infrastructure, recently toured the region and outlined plans to take full control of vital infrastructure, including Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, as Russia fortified its defensive positions there and exerted its authority over the local population.
“I came here to provide maximum opportunities for integration,” Khusnullin was quoted by Russian news media as saying.
In a further sign Moscow was preparing to push for the Russification of the region — the way it has in Crimea since seizing it from Ukraine in 2014 — Russian officials have moved to introduce the ruble, install proxy politicians in local governments, impose new school curriculums, reroute internet servers through Russia and cut the population off from Ukrainian broadcasts.
Khusnullin said Russia even intended to charge Ukraine for electricity generated by the Ukrainian nuclear plant that Russian forces commandeered in the early weeks of the invasion — a plan Ukraine described as extortion.
But even as the Russian authorities projected control over a Ukrainian region that is culturally close to Russia,
President Vladimir Putin appears to be punishing military subordinates for blunders in the invasion that started in February.
A report by Britain’s defense intelligence agency suggested the Kremlin was conducting a purge of senior commanders deemed responsible for the failures of Russia’s initial strategy to seize much more Ukraine territory, including the capital, Kyiv, and second-largest city, Kharkiv. The report raised the question of whether Putin retained faith in his chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov.
The Russians have said nothing about any changes in the military leadership.
Russia’s new, narrower strategy of focusing on Ukraine’s east has proved more successful than its initially greater aims, even as its forces have retreated in the northeast and struggled
to gain ground in the eastern Donbas region.
Following the longest battle of the war, Russian soldiers completed their capture of Mariupol after having seized control of the sprawling Azovstal steel plant. Over 700 fighters from the Azov Regiment, who had made a final stand against the Russians from the plant, surrendered between Wednesday and Thursday, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. On Friday, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti quoted the ministry as saying 2,439 Ukrainian fighters who had been holed up at the steelworks had surrendered since Monday.
The Kremlin has been using the mass surrender for propaganda purposes, describing its captives as terrorists and Nazi war criminals, and framing the conquest of Mariupol as a
turning point in the conflict.
Although much of Mariupol is ruined, its capture is expected to bring Russia benefits. It will complete a land bridge between the Russian-controlled Crimean Peninsula to the south and the adjoining Donbas region, where pro-Russian separatists have battled Ukrainian forces since 2014.
With Mariupol captured, Russian troops are free to help entrench Russia’s authority over the rest of the eastern region — well short of Moscow’s initial push to control all of Ukraine, but strong leverage in any future peace negotiations.
The shift in Russian tactics reflects not only the resilient Ukrainian defense, but also the nagging command, logistics and morale problems that continue to bedevil Russian commanders, especially in the Donbas, a senior Pentagon
official said on condition of anonymity.
The southern region under Russian control covers a vast expanse that includes Ukraine’s agricultural heartland and several key ports. Along with Russia’s naval dominion in the Black Sea, annexation would tighten Moscow’s stranglehold on the Ukrainian economy and solidify its blockade of Ukraine’s southern coast.
The Ukrainians have accused Russia of forcibly deporting thousands to Russia and witnesses have described increasingly repressive efforts to enforce Russian rule.
The Kremlin has sought to portray its actions as reflecting popular will. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to play down Khusnullin’s statements signaling annexation, saying only locals could decide.
But in a move some analysts saw as reflecting confusion within the Russian leadership about how to secure Ukrainian areas seized by Russia, a group of lawmakers Thursday submitted a bill that would allow Putin to establish “temporary administrations on territories where Russia’s army conducts military operations.”
Moscow’s announcements were also part of a propaganda campaign aimed at conveying control over areas where its grip is less solid. Military analysts have said Russia’s forces could still face Ukrainian uprisings and counteroffensives.
Russia’s invasion, spearheaded by a rapid advance of tanks and helicopters, ultimately led to many Russian casualties, including some senior generals on the battlefield. The finger-pointing has started, Britain’s defense intelligence agency said in its Thursday report.
It said the commander of the elite 1st Guards Tank Army, Lt. Gen. Serhiy Kisel, had been suspended for failure to capture Kharkiv, where Ukrainian forces drove the invaders back toward the Russian border 40 miles away.
The British agency also reported that the commander of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, Vice Adm. Igor Osipov, had likely been suspended following the April sinking of the fleet’s flagship, the cruiser Moskva. Asked about the report, a senior Pentagon official said the commander had been dismissed.
But in the port city of Kherson, in the south near the border with Crimea, Khusnullin inspected infrastructure, including the port, a cargo railway station and a factory.
“We will live and work together,” he said.