Financial Times: Putin believes the Russian army will take all of Donbas by autumn

Financial Times: Putin believes the Russian army will take all of Donbas by autumn

The military command has convinced Vladimir Putin that the Russian army can capture all of Donbas by autumn 2026, the Financial Times writes, citing sources in the president’s inner circle.

Despite increased Ukrainian drone strikes and the slow advance of Russian troops at the front, Putin continues to believe that “the Ukrainian front will collapse.” According to three sources, after capturing Donbas the president plans to “raise the price of a ceasefire by expanding territorial demands.”

💜Earlier, Verstka reported that the Defense Ministry announces Ukrainian army losses and the “liberation” of new settlements every day, regardless of whether the front line is actually moving or not.

We studied the ministry’s bulletins and found out how many AFU soldiers the Russian army had “liquidated,” according to the Defense Ministry, how much equipment it had “destroyed,” and how that compares with reality.

Read on Verstka’s website (with VPN):

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Verstka

How the Defense Ministry Has Been Reporting on the Course of the War for Four Years

One million killed AFU servicemen and hundreds of thousands of destroyed weapons