Putin Gave Order To Capture Donetsk Region By September 15 - General Staff

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the military command of the invaders to capture Donetsk region by September 15.

The deputy head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksii Hromov announced this at a briefing, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"The enemy continues to hold the occupied areas of Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, and also tries to create conditions for the resumption of the offensive. So the Russian occupation troops adjust their plans and actions in accordance with Putin's order to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk region by September 15," he said.

Hromov stressed that it is not the first time the occupiers have shifted plans to capture Donetsk region.

They had previously wanted to take over the region by the end of August.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Putin signed a decree to increase the number of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation by 137,000 people.