Russia Calls First Round Of War In Ukraine Over, Military Goals Switch To Free Donbass

The wreckage of a car that was hit by a Russian rocket in the city of Lviv, western Ukraine. (The Moscow Times/Sate Emergency Service or Ukraine)

LONDON - Russia said it had completed the first round of its military operation in Ukraine on Friday, March 25 local time. Their main goal is currently "liberating" the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine.

The announcement from Russia also shows that Moscow is carrying out a new strategy. With a more limited aim towards Donbass after experiencing fierce resistance from the Ukrainian military during a month of war.

Russia's Defense Ministry said Russia-backed separatists now control 93 percent of Ukraine's Luhansk region and 54 percent of Donetsk territory. They unite towards Donbass.

"The main objectives of the first stage of operations have in general been achieved," Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, said in a speech.

"The potential for fighting with the Ukrainian armed forces has been greatly reduced, which ... makes it possible to focus our core efforts on achieving the main goal, the liberation of the Donbass," continued Rudskoi.

A senior diplomatic source in Moscow said the Russian military had failed to capture major cities from the north, east and south since it invaded Ukraine. The new strategy is an attempt to save face and possibly the beginning of the de-escalation of Russian tensions in the war against Ukraine.

"I had anticipated other possibilities of focusing on Donbass, but while Putin's rhetoric remains at its maximum, we need to see more evidence on the ground," he said.

Furthermore, Rudskoi said 1,351 Russian soldiers had been killed and 3,825 injured since the war with Ukraine. However, Ukraine's military says about 15,000 Russian troops have died in heavy fighting in the country.