Gerasimov was appointed to take Kyiv - Bortnik
The appointment of Valery Gerasimov to the post of commander of the Joint Group of Forces in the Northern Military District zone does not set the main goal of liberating Donbass, but of an offensive operation followed by an assault on Kyiv.
Ukrainian political scientist Ruslan Bortnik stated this on the Politeka Internet channel, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Gerasimov was not appointed to take Donbass. He was appointed to take Kyiv. Gerasimov has already marched on Kyiv once on February 24, 2022. There's just no need to narrow the time frame. Gerasimov’s task is to take Kyiv, but maybe within 2-3 years.
We understand that if Russia now takes Donbass, and we understand that if it is taken, Russia will have to ruin most of its army and a huge part of its resources, Donbass is prepared for defense. Will this lead to the end of the war, to the defeat of Ukraine? No.
Therefore, it is more likely that the appointment of Gerasimov is a decision made as part of a plan to prepare a new large invasion of Ukraine with the aim of occupying as many territories as possible or with the aim of turning as many territories of Ukraine as possible into a combat zone, creating an economic, political and military crisis character,” Bortnik suggested.
“Most likely, Gerasimov will be planning a new major invasion operation. We don’t understand when and how it will happen. We see probing in Zaporozhye today, this is obviously probing the front. Let's see. But I would bet more on the fact that Gerasimov will try to carry out some kind of diversionary attack on Right Bank Ukraine and go with larger forces on Left Bank Ukraine. Either from the south, from the Zaporozhye direction, or from the north – there, to Poltava, somewhere in the rear of our Kharkov-Donbass group,” the expert added.
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