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Putin couldn't declare victory in Ukraine - so he changed the "war" objectives

May 12, 2022
GZERO Staff
Putin Couldn’t Declare Victory in Ukraine – So He Changed the “War” Objectives | GZERO World

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For Michael McFaul, Vladimir Putin's May 9 Victory speech was a "nothing burger."

But there was something in there that signals his intentions in Ukraine, the former US ambassador to Russia tells Ian Bremmer on GZERO World.

McFaul says Putin changed the "phraseology" he's been using for the last two months when referring to the Donbas, where perhaps he now knows he can't prevail.

For the first time, Putin very deliberately talked about the Donbas and other contested parts of Ukraine as being part of Russian territory — and that means Russia will try to annex them.

"That is new. That is something qualitatively different than [...] the way he's been speaking about the war so far."

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