The Telegraph: For The First Time Since 2022, Putin Has Changed His Goals In Ukraine

• 2.07.2025, 8:21

Analysts have sounded the tipping point.

The number of Kremlin attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine indicate a change in Putin's strategy. Yesterday, the Russian president said that his army has fully occupied Luhansk region. If this information is confirmed, Lugansk region, after Crimea, will become the first fully occupied region of Ukraine.

But Putin's ambitions go far beyond the four partially occupied regions of Ukraine, according to The Telegraph.

At the same time, propaganda resources assure that Putin's army has also occupied the first settlement in Dnipropetrovsk region. Against this background, more than 10 thousand Russian troops are now in Sumy and Kharkiv regions.

Putin revised his plans to occupy Ukraine back in 2022, when he failed to reach Kiev. Since then, the Kremlin has decided to narrow its goals to Eastern Ukraine.

It took exactly three years to "fully" occupy Luhanshchina. However, starting in 2025, Putin is changing his targets for Ukraine again. The occupiers have resumed fighting in Kharkiv and Sumshchina.

An ISW analyst Angelica Evans believes Putin changed his targets after visiting the Kursk region in May. That's when he ordered the creation of a "buffer zone" along the entire border with Ukraine. Putin initially stated a "buffer zone," but as his army gets closer to major cities, the Kremlin may change goals and ambitions again.

It will be a slow progression, but Putin will return to ideas of occupying all of Ukraine. Also indicating a change in strategy is the fact that Putin has begun to frequently strike civilian targets in Ukraine.

In the long term, Putin simply wants to force Ukrainians to leave their hometowns along the front lines so that they can be more easily occupied.