Russia is taking more and more ground in eastern Ukraine.
But they have not yet given up the fight for Kyiv.
Putin plans to try to conquer the capital again, according to the newspaper Meduza.
Kyiv proved to be more difficult to capture than the Russian regime first thought.
But as Russia now advances in the eastern part of Ukraine, the tone of the Kremlin has changed.
A belief in “winning the war” and recapturing Kyiv has been aroused, several sources in the Kremlin tell the Russian independent newspaper Meduza.
– We will kill them anyway. Probably everything will be over by the autumn, says one of them.
Russia: Europe will get tired
What a new attack on Kyiv would look like is unclear, according to Meduza.
But sources say that the Russian leadership may consider mobilizing conscripts.
– So far, most ykressolders are fighting. They are enough for a relatively slow advance in Ukraine. But if you need to move faster, you can use conscripts. It is still an army, says Meduza’s source, who is close to the Kremlin.
He adds, however, that a general mobilization in Russia is not particularly likely as the Kremlin fears it will damage the people’s confidence in the regime.
Putin also believes that Western support for Ukraine will diminish if the war drags on.
– Sooner or later, Europe will get tired of helping. It is both money and weapons that they themselves need. It will also be necessary to negotiate gas and oil with Russia before the autumn, says a source to Meduza.
“Do everything we can”
Russia withdrew from Kyiv after failing to conquer the city at the beginning of the war.
Since then, the people have become accustomed to a different everyday life in the capital of Ukraine. Recently, diplomats and ambassadors have also returned to Kyiv.
Ukraine’s focus is now on resisting the Russian forces in the Donbass.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyj said in his speech on Friday night that the situation is “very difficult”.
– We defend our country in the way that our current resources allow. We are doing everything we can to expand them. And we will expand them. But if the occupiers believe that Lyman or Severodonetsk will be theirs, they are wrong. Donbass remains Ukrainian.