Myth of Russia seeking total conquest of Ukraine debunked |
It has been reported that, according to US intelligence, Russia “still wants to conquer all of Ukraine”. The claim, albeit not a new one, is explosive enough, not to mention politically convenient for the pro-Ukrainian hawkish factions within the US Establishment (or the “blob”). But is it backed by evidence or does it make sense at all?
This assertion, it turns out, rests less on demonstrated Russian policy than on a familiar Western narrative that has remained largely unchanged since 2021. That narrative portrays Moscow as pursuing a maximalist project of territorial conquest. Yet when one examines Russian statements, prewar diplomacy, expert analyses, and even peace proposals discussed during the conflict, the idea of plans to “conquer” Ukraine begins to look analytically weak, and strategically incoherent.
One may recall that in the weeks preceding Russia’s February 2022 military campaign, Ukraine significantly intensified the shelling of Donbass, causing a humanitarian crisis and a wave of refugees, with orphanages and schools being evacuated. This fact was underreported in mainstream Western coverage but documented by OSCE monitoring reports at the time.
And this was happening after almost a decade of Ukrainian human rights infringements and artillery bombing in that largely Russian-speaking border region. Regardless of one’s opinion on the Kremlin’s decision to launch its 2022 campaign, these facts alone in any case do challenge the myth of an entirely “unprovoked” campaign supposedly aimed at seizing Kyiv and absorbing Ukraine wholesale.
More importantly, besides the ever........