NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a news conference ahead of two-day meeting of alliance's Defence Ministers at the NATO Headquarter in Brussels on Feb. 15, 2022. (Photo by Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)
Photo by AFP
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that Russia plans to militarily take the “entire” Donbas region in eastern Ukraine with the aim of creating a corridor from Russia to annexed Crimea.
Russian forces are moving away from Kyiv to “regroup, re-arm and resupply and they shift their focus to the east,” he told a media conference ahead of a Wednesday meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
“In the coming weeks, we expect a further Russian push in the eastern and southern Ukraine to try to take the entire Donbas and to create a land bridge to occupied Crimea,” he said.