Ukraine war: Putin's plan for Ukraine revealed?

TV channel shows map

Created: 2022-02-28Updated: 2022-02-28 09:29

By: Max Schaefer

Russia is waging a war of aggression in Ukraine.

But what exactly are Vladimir Putin's goals?

A card foreshadows bad things.

Moscow – Russia* is waging a war of aggression in Ukraine.

Since Thursday (February 24th, 2022) Russian soldiers have been attacking cities and military bases throughout Ukraine*.

This is intended to prevent genocide against Russians in the neighboring country, especially in the separatist areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, explains Vladimir Putin*.

The Russian President also named the “denazification” and demilitarization of Ukraine as a goal.

Putin also justifies the military escalation of the Ukraine conflict* with reference to the country's history.

In his argument, he also questioned Ukraine's right to exist.

Modern Ukraine was created entirely by Russia, Putin said in a speech on Monday (February 21, 2022).

The country must bear the name of Lenin because he is the architect of the country.

The country also owes large parts of the area to the Soviet rulers Stalin and Khrushchev.

Ukraine war: Map allows conclusions to be drawn about Russia's plans

The Russian state television channel Rossija 24 took up Putin's remarks on Ukraine and presented them on a map of Ukraine. The components of Putin's argument are marked in colour.

A distinction is made between areas that Ukraine is said to have received from Russia between 1917 and 1954.

The Russian state broadcaster visualized Putin's statements.

(Screenshot) © Rossiya 24

A large part of the Ukrainian north was "donated by the Russian tsars".

These also include Kyiv, reports Merkur.de.

The map of the Russian state broadcaster describes the west of Ukraine as a "gift from Stalin", while the Crimean peninsula on the coast of the Black Sea in the south, which was annexed in 2014, is presented as a "gift from Khrukhchev".

According to the Russian representation, only a small area in the center of the actual national territory, marked yellow on the map, remains of the Ukraine.

Russia has no claims to the territory and, according to the Merkur.de report, recognizes Ukraine as a country in this area.

At a Security Council meeting on Monday (February 21, 2022), Russian President Vladimir Putin denied Ukraine's right to exist.

(Archive photo) © Alexei Nikolsky/dpa

Russia's attack on Ukraine: Experts criticize Putin's understanding of history

Historians have criticized Putin's historically misinterpretation of Russian history in relation to Ukraine.

“The instrumentalization of history plays a prominent role in Putin's war rhetoric that accompanies the attack.

It is outrageous and turns history on its head that Putins invokes a goal such as 'denazification' in his war," quotes Merkur.de from a statement by the German-Ukrainian Commission of Historians on Thursday (February 24, 2022).

The interwoven European history cannot be used for current territorial claims.

“Putin's historical reasoning is amateurish and does not stand up to academic criticism.

However one judges this, under no circumstances should the past be used to pursue a policy of military aggression today,” the historians explain in response to the Russian attack on Ukraine.

Ukraine war: What are Russia's goals in Ukraine?

However, it is still unclear whether Vladimir Putin's understanding of history and the territorial claims derived from it actually allow conclusions to be drawn about the course of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

In addition to capturing all areas that Ukraine is said to have received from Russia over time, there are other possible goals, according to an analysis by the Frankfurter Rundschau of the Russian attack on Ukraine*.

In this way, Putin could connect the separatist areas he recognizes in the Donbass with the regions of Transnistria and Gagauzia in Moldova, which are close to Russia, so that Ukraine would be separated from the sea.

The conquest of eastern Ukraine up to the Dnieper and the agricultural south is an option.

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