Russia indicated on Friday that it now wanted to focus its efforts on the "liberation" of eastern Ukraine.
“The main objectives of the first phase of the operation have been met.
The combat capabilities of the Ukrainian forces have been significantly reduced, which allows (...) to concentrate the bulk of the efforts on the main objective: the liberation of Donbass”, declared the deputy to the head of state -Russian Major Sergei Rudskoy.
Russia's main advances were in eastern and southern Ukraine, but it did not conquer major cities.
The Ukrainian Donbass has been partly controlled since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists.
Just before the February 24 offensive, Russia had recognized their independence, and launched its military intervention with the official aim of protecting them from a "genocide" orchestrated by the Ukrainian authorities.
Russia has taken in 419,736 refugees from eastern Ukraine
Sergei Rudskoy also called the delivery of weapons to kyiv by Western countries a “big mistake”.
“It prolongs the conflict, increases the number of casualties and will have no influence on the outcome of the operation,” he declared.
He further added that Russia would "respond accordingly" if NATO established a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which kyiv has been calling for for several weeks without success.
Separately, Russia has taken in 419,736 refugees from eastern Ukraine since the start of the operation, Mikhail Mizintsev, director of Russia's National Defense Management Center, said in the same meeting with the hurry.
"The Russian army will continue to carry out this special military operation until all objectives are achieved," said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
The Kremlin has said it wants to "denazify" and "demilitarize" its pro-Western neighbor.