Despite the advance of the Ukrainian troops, the main goal for Russia remains the offensive in the Donbass. The main areas of concentration of Russian troops are Avdiivka near Donetsk and around Bakhmut, British intelligence notes..

"

At the same time, the political goal of the operation in Donbass is to capture the entire Donetsk region, which would allow the Kremlin to announce the “liberation” of Donbass. However, the Russian troops have repeatedly missed the deadlines for achieving this goal..

“Ukrainian authorities claim that Russian forces are now instructed to complete this mission by September 15, 2022.. The Russian army is unlikely to be able to achieve this goal, which will further complicate Russia's plans to hold referendums on the accession of the occupied territories to the Russian Federation, ”the British Ministry of Defense notes..

Last Defense Intelligence update on situation in Ukraine - 5 September 2022From UK government's response: https://t. co/7fPp6gM5tS? #StandWithUkraine? pic. twitter. com/OrGEqsSJnD.

— Ministry of Defense? (@DefenceHQ) September 5, 2022.

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Recall that the Russians repeatedly postponed the date of the " At first it was supposed to take place in early May. After some time, Kherson collaborator Kirill Stremousov generally suggested that this would happen " But later it was decided to hold it on September 11 - along with local elections in Russia.

According to Russian media, the Russian-controlled occupation administration in the Zaporizhia region has already issued an order to hold a "