Russian forces ordered to advance wherever possible — Ukrainian military

Yevhen Dykyi, former platoon commander of the Aidar Battalion, said this on Espreso TV.

"In reality, the Russians are doing everything they can in this war. They don’t need a specific reason to enter one region of Ukraine or another. For them, in a broader sense, all our regions are the same. They haven’t changed the goal of their so-called 'special military operation' - it’s about 'solving the Ukrainian question,' meaning the destruction of an independent Ukraine. That’s exactly what they’re working toward," Dykyi emphasized.

According to the former platoon commander of the Aidar Battalion, the Russian army has orders to advance wherever possible. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in the regions they have formally included in their constitution - despite not fully controlling them - or in areas they have not yet officially claimed. The order is the same for all: advance wherever you can.

"But during negotiations at the White House, someone did raise the question: all right, these four regions - you’ve declared them yours, you claim them. But what are you doing in the other three? And that’s where the concept of a 'buffer zone' comes in. Supposedly, these three regions aren’t being occupied because they’re included in your constitution, but because you need them as a 'buffer zone' to protect your own territory," Dykyi noted.

• On May 22, Russian ruler Vladimir Putin stated that the Russian Armed Forces are working to create a 'buffer security zone' along the border with Ukraine. Kyiv urged to increase pressure on Moscow.