Territorial conquest in Ukraine is not the priority: Podolyak reveals Russia’s main goal

Today, Russia's goal is not just to grab as much Ukrainian territory as possible. One of its key objectives is to extract concessions from the West.

This opinion was expressed by Mykhailo Podolyak, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President, in a comment to "RBC-Ukraine".

"For Russia today, it's not even about capturing another half a kilometer or 20 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory. I simply don't quite understand why global elites continue to pretend they don't see this. For Russia, the goal is not Ukraine's capitulation - because Ukraine will not capitulate under any circumstances and has repeatedly stated this. For Russia, the key goal is the capitulation of the United States of America, along with Europe, of course," Podolyak stated.

According to him, such capitulation would mean the West ceases its support for Ukraine, agrees to end the war on terms that include meeting at least some of Russia's ultimatums, recognizes the territories seized by the aggressor state, and ensures Russia avoids accountability for its aggression as a whole.

"This would ensure Russia's "non-defeat", and they [Russian propaganda—ed.] would spin this "non-defeat" as a victory - an "intermediate victory", so to speak. That’s what is important for Russia, and that’s why it will continue to raise the stakes," Mykhailo Podolyak emphasized.

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