Moscow plans corridor to Moldova
Ukrainian General Staff: Main target is Kiev
02/25/2022 02:02 am
Russian troops continue to advance on several fronts. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russia is planning, among other things, a corridor to the separatist region of Transnistria in the Republic of Moldova. But the attacker’s main target is Kiev, the Ukrainian military assumes.
According to the Ukrainian general staff, the Russian army has already advanced into Ukraine with a large part of its assembled troops. A military spokesman gave the figure of 60 tactical battalion groups (BTG) from Russia. These are highly flexible and fast combat troops with 600 to 1000 soldiers. According to Ukrainian sources, the Russian army assembled around 90 such groups for the invasion.
The enemy is concentrating its troops in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions in the east and south, the spokesman said. The main goal seems to be to blockade the capital Kiev. In addition, the opposing troops wanted to create a land corridor from the Crimean peninsula to the separatist areas in the east, the spokesman said in Kiev. Another goal is a corridor to the separatist region of Transnistria in the Republic of Moldova, which borders Ukraine. There is fighting in the southern Ukrainian region of Cherson.
The Russian army tried to land 200 of its airborne troops at Gostomel airfield west of Kiev, the spokesman for the general staff said. The Ukrainian army managed to repel the landing of the main contingent. There were fights with the Russian vanguard until Thursday evening. In a video message on Friday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of Russian saboteurs who had allegedly already entered Kiev.
The AFP news agency previously quoted a Western intelligence official as saying that Russia had “complete air sovereignty” over Ukraine. Ukraine now has no more air defense capabilities, said the secret service representative in Brussels. Now the Russian army wants to gather an “overwhelming force” around the capital Kiev. So far, there has been no official confirmation of this.
Zelenskyj calls for general mobilization
Selenskyj had ordered a general mobilization during the night after there had already been a partial mobilization of reservists. The head of state signed a corresponding decree, the Unian agency reported, citing the presidential office in Kiev. The order is therefore valid for 90 days and provides for the call-up of conscripts and reservists.
Selenskyj did not say how many men will be affected. According to Ukrainian authorities, male citizens between the ages of 18 and 60 are also not allowed to leave the country. The head of the Ukrainian customs authority in Lviv, Danil Menshikov, said on Facebook that they would not be allowed to cross the national border.