Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the russian leadership has repeatedly changed the goals of its so-called special operation, which it announces in public. To explain these fluctuations in information, it is necessary to recall how during the year the goals of “special operations” were announced by various russian officials.
On February 24, putin called the purpose of the special operation “the protection of the residents of Donbas, the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine,” as well as “the bringing to court of those who have committed numerous bloody crimes.”
A week after the start of the war, when russian troops failed to capture Kyiv, Kharkiv, or any other large Ukrainian city, such goals as “demilitarization” and “denazification” practically disappeared from the use of russian politicians, they began to talk more about helping Donbas and settlement of the situation through negotiations. On March 1, the minister of defense of the russian federation, s.shoigu, no longer mentioned “denazification”, but stated that the attempts to occupy Kyiv region by troops in February were “distracting actions”, and now the purpose of the “special operation” is “the protection of russia from the threat from the Western countries, who are trying to use the Ukrainian people to fight moscow.”
On March 18, on the eve of the de-occupation of Bucha, Irpin, Gostomel and other settlements in the Kyiv region, putin assured that in fact the russians are protecting “the DPR and LPR, which are suffering from genocide.” Shoigu immediately corrected his own statements and on March 29 did not say anything about the threats from the Western countries, but declared that he would focus his main efforts on “achieving the main goal – the liberation of Donbas and southern Ukraine in order to secure a land corridor to the occupied Crimea and obtain an exit to Transnistria “.
This narrative lasted until July of last year and was supported by the loud statements of putin’s entourage – lavrov, peskov, patrushev, volodin…
On July 20, the minister of foreign affairs of the russian federation, s.lavrov, once again changed the “geographic tasks of the “special operation” and stated that now it is not only the “DPR”/”LPR”, but also “a number of other territories.”
Considering the events of recent months, it is obvious that the war is gradually moving to russian territory and moscow is preparing for the most negative scenarios for the development of the “special operation” for the russian federation. And in January 2023, the russian dictator expectedly defined its “new goal”. According to him, the russian invaders in Ukraine are “protecting russia.” During a meeting with students in volgograd, putin said that the occupiers are allegedly fighting against threats that russia is “trying to create on its own historical territories.” “Our main task is the preservation of russia,” putin said verbatim. Currently, putin’s rhetoric that the russian federation does not need new Ukrainian lands, and the main goal is only to protect its own territory, remains the main message of russian propagandists.
That is why the elimination of the possibility of shelling by Ukrainians of the border regions of the russian federation becomes a priority but impossible task for the putin regime. Despite statements about the “destruction of Ukraine’s military potential” and “the complete cessation of the supply of missiles, ammunition, and military equipment to the Ukrainian forces,” the successful shelling of military facilities in the belgorod and kursk regions proved the opposite to the russians. In order to hide from the people the systematic defeats of its army, the russian authorities are trying to move away from declaring the goals of the war against Ukraine altogether. The propagandist m.symonyan has already stated that “we should keep silent about the goals of the special operations.”
❗️So, with each defeat in the war, putin radically changed the goals of the “SMO” – from “denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine” and “taking Kyiv in three days” to “preserving russia”. The constant change in the goals of the “SMO” vividly demonstrates putin’s confusion and loss of confidence in victory. After all, the russian dictator planned to conduct an instant “special operation” in Ukraine, similar to the one that russia had carried out in Kazakhstan two months before. Then, taking advantage of an external opportunity, they brought in troops, captured key points and administrative buildings, thereby suppressing the protestors’ resistance. In Ukraine, the occupiers tried to do the same, but everything did not go according to plan and the blitzkrieg turned into a full-scale war, for which neither putin nor russian society was ready. Also, the failures led to quarrels between putin and the military-political leadership of russia. However, at present, putin cannot officially recognize the defeat of the special operation due to the threat of loss of power and the disintegration of russia as a state. That is why the rhetoric about ending the war through negotiations has recently intensified in the russian public space. However, the previous rounds of negotiations did not bring any concrete results. Therefore, Kyiv rightly believes that the invaders can use the negotiation process to prepare for new aggressive actions, and the kremlin does not want to give up the already occupied territories of Ukraine.
