The independent Russian portal Meduza reported that the Kremlin is once again considering attacking Kyiv and hoping for a full victory in the war against Ukraine.
According to Meduza, there is renewed hope in the Russian presidential administration, against the backdrop of the Russian military incursion in the Donbas, that Moscow can “bring the war in Ukraine to victory” within a few months.
The portal in its publication relies on two sources close to the Kremlin and one directly linked to the Russian presidential administration.
Meduza stresses that the Kremlin considers the seizure of the entire territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions by Russian troops as a “minimum plan” for the “declaration of victory” that would be announced in the following days.
According to the portal, Moscow also has a “maximum plan” all along, which involves taking control of Kyiv. According to Meduza’s Kremlin interlocutors, Russia’s top leadership has not abandoned this goal.
“We will continue to pull them (Ukrainians). Most likely, everything will be over by autumn,” one source reported. According to Meduza’s interlocutors, such a mood prevails not only in the Kremlin but also in the leadership of Russia’s ruling United Russia party.
Meduza’s interlocutors point out that in achieving the goal, the country’s authorities may decide to send conscripts en masse to fight.
“So far, mainly contract soldiers are fighting. But if we have to move forward faster, we can use conscripts. It’s still an army,” one source tells Meduza.
However, it adds that a general mobilisation in Russia is not to be expected, as the Kremlin fears such a step could hit the government’s ratings and Russian President Vladimir Putin personally.
Moreover, according to Meduza, the Kremlin doubts that Western countries will continue to support Ukraine on a large scale financially and militarily if the war drags on. “Sooner or later Europe will get tired of helping. Closer to autumn, it will have to agree (with Russia) on terms for buying gas and oil before the heating season” Meduza quotes one of his interlocutors.