He said this in an interview with one of the Russian mass media.
According to Peskov, the occupiers are currently focused on seizing Donbas.
"The primary task is to protect people in the LPR and DPR. We see a difficult situation in Donetsk. And this is, of course, what our military is focusing on now," Putin's mouthpiece said.
Commenting on this statement, the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine said that the change in the Kremlin's rhetoric indicates the inability of the Russian army to maintain control over the captured territories.
"This statement by the Kremlin's official mouthpiece indicates that the seizure of Chernihiv and Odesa is currently not a priority of the "special operation". Due to the inability to take control of the seized territories, the Kremlin is forced to change its rhetoric towards announcing its intentions to at least contain the situation in Donbas," the message said.
The Russian occupying forces do not stop their attempts to attack in the Donetsk region in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions, but due to the powerful response of the Ukrainian defenders, they do not succeed.