Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Friday, March 25, 2022
From the Liveblog of
Friday, March 25, 2022
Russia claims it’s largely completed 1st phase of operation, turns focus to ‘liberating’ Donbass
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A tank of the Ukrainian Army drives towards the front line in Yasnogorodk, a rural town where the Ukrainian army stopped the advance of the Russian army, outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 25, 2022. (AP Photo/ (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Russia’s defense ministry claims it has largely completed the first phase of its military operation in Ukraine.
It will now turn its focus to “liberating” eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region.
The announcement suggests Russia is now focusing on more modest military goals amid unanticipated Ukrainian resistance.
Russian news agencies quote the defense ministry as claiming that Russian-backed separatists now control 93% of Ukraine’s Luhansk region and 54% of the Donetsk region — the two areas that jointly make up the Donbass, Reuters reports.
The ministry says it has not ruled out storming Ukrainian cities currently under siege and that Moscow would respond to any no-fly zone imposed over Ukraine.
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