Vladimir Putin does not intend to stop there. It is in any case what affirmed this Tuesday, Avril Haines, the chief of the American intelligence, in front of the Congress. According to her, the Russian president does not intend to limit his desire for occupation to the Donbass region alone. To understand everything, 20 minutes provides an update on the intervention of Joe Biden’s director of intelligence.
Towards martial law?
The Russian president is counting, according to Avril Haines, on a loss of Western support for Ukraine and is preparing for a long conflict, for which he will “probably” impose martial law in Russia. As a reminder, martial law allows, in special circumstances, to establish a state of emergency or a state of siege. Or an exceptional legal state, in which the army ensures the maintenance of order in place of the police or in collaboration with the latter.
What about nuclear?
On the other hand, for the head of American intelligence, Vladimir Putin will only use nuclear weapons in the event of an “existential threat”, she affirmed before Congress. In mid-April, CIA chief William Burns was more alarming. Indeed, according to him, military setbacks in Ukraine could prompt Russian President Vladimir Putin to resort to a tactical or low-power nuclear weapon in that country.
Further than the Donbass
Vladimir Putin does not intend to limit his desire for occupation to the Donbass region alone and according to American intelligence, he wants to take the conflict to Transnistria.
“We believe that President Putin is preparing for a protracted conflict in Ukraine, during which he still intends to achieve goals beyond Donbass,” Haines told Congress. US intelligence believes the Russian military wants to “extend the land bridge (in southern Ukraine) to Transdniestria”, she added.
Precisely, the Russians “continue to prepare offensive operations in the regions of Lyman and Severodonetsk”, in the Donbass (east), announced this Tuesday morning the Ukrainian general staff, adding that the artillery fire and air strikes continued on the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. “Very intense battles were taking place around Roubijné and Bilogorivka” in the Lugansk region (east), Governor Serguiï Gaïdaï indicated the day before.