On the 21st day of the war, the Russian army has achieved major results in succession.
Mariupol, which had been unable to conquer for a long time, had finally played almost the same, and now only the finishing work was left, and soon it would be able to fully control Mariupol.
At this point, the line from Crimea to Donetsk was directly opened.
In the Kherson region, the Russian army has continued to expand its achievements and has taken control of the entire Kherson Oblast.
This means that about one-half of the basin of the Lower Dnieper Is completely controlled by the Russian army, controlling the outlet of the Dnieper.
The strategic importance of Kherson Oblast is very important, bordering Crimea, the Black Sea to the west and the Sea of Azov to the east. After taking control of Kherson, the Russian army could turn Ukraine into a "landlocked country" without even controlling Osad.
In addition, Kherson is one of the main grain producing areas in Ukraine, which is also a blow to Ukraine's economy and food supply.
What made Ukraine feel most wrong was a move by the Russian army after taking control of Kherson Oblast – the beginning of the lowering of the Ukrainian flag across Kherson Oblast.
This action is not a joke. The Russian army has not lowered the flag before. Does the fact that the Ukrainian flag is now undergrad mean that Russia is going to cut off Kherson Oblast?
You know, to the south of Kherson is Crimea.
Therefore, this matter is extremely frightening for Ukraine. Ukraine has always wanted to return to Crimea, and now if Crimea does not come back, it will have to take a Kherson Oblast.
There is understandable concern about this. But the chances of Russia cutting off Kherson are slim.
The Russian army did lower the flag of Ukraine, but instead of raising the Russian flag, it raised the victory flag of the Russian army, indicating that Russia had no intention of Kherson's territory.
The move is more about putting pressure on the Ukrainian side.
The bright red flag symbolizing victory replaced the Ukrainian flag and would have a great blow to the morale of the Ukrainian side.
At the same time, it is also a deterrent to the Ukrainian authorities. It is telling the Ukrainian authorities to negotiate with Russia and meet the existing conditions proposed by Russia.
If the conditions are not met, trying to drag the Russian army and consume Russia, then Russia will then propose more conditions, and even do not rule out the possibility of conditions including more territorial conditions.
In short, russia now has Ukraine recognize Crimea as Russia, recognize the independence of the two "republics" and that sovereignty is on the border of donetsk and Luhansk regions.
If Ukraine does not accede to these demands, russia is likely to increase its weight and add Kherson Oblast to it.
Recently, due to Western interference, the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations have been intermittent and have not made much progress.
After Zelenskiy made it clear that the territorial issue could also be discussed, he soon repented again, and the Ukrainian side also strongly stated that it would never back down on issues involving territory.
This is Ukraine's strategy, Zelenskiy went to Russia to succumb, and then other Ukrainian officials were responsible for opposing it, trying to make Russia stop and stop and hold back the Russian offensive through this repeated attitude.
Therefore, it can be seen that while the fourth round of negotiations is underway, the Russian army has made significant progress on the battlefield one after another.
Russia is telling Ukraine with practical actions that delaying time is only futile, and the more it drags on, the more Ukraine loses.