Analysis: As its defence minister trumpets a key goal, Russia is pushing hard to subjugate areas of southern Ukraine it controls
The Kremlin is pushing ahead with attempts to consolidate its political, social and military grip on Ukraine’s south after claiming earlier this week it had established its “land bridge” to Crimea, one of Moscow’s key war aims.
The announcement by the Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, was accompanied by the announcement that rail traffic to the border with Russia had been restored and at least one service had included trucks carrying grain taken from the elevators in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol to Crimea, which was cut off from the Ukrainian rail network after its illegal annexation by Russia in 2014.
