Putin Did Not Come To A Common Course Of Action Regarding Occupied Territories In Ukraine – ISW

Experts from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believe that the leadership of the Russian Federation probably does not fully understand what to do with the territories of Ukraine that have been captured by Russian troops since the beginning of the war.

This is stated in the experts' report published on the ISW website.

Recently, Russian politicians and officials have made a number of statements, in some cases contrary, regarding the fate of the occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Thus, the leader of the Russian "opposition" political party "Fair Russia" Sergei Mironov recently said that the occupied territories of Ukraine can join the Russian Federation.

At the same time, on the eve of the press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, said that in the near future holding the so-called "referenda" on the accession of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to the Russian Federation is impossible without ensuring complete security in these territories.

Experts note that the representative of the Russian president did not specify what "ensuring" complete security means for the Kremlin.

ISW also recalled that in Russia earlier, they announced their intention to use the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant for the needs of the Russian Federation, as well as to sell the energy generated by it to Ukraine. This is impossible since the NPP is not physically connected to the Ukrainian or European energy system.

As earlier reported, on June 1, Member of the State Duma of Russia Leonid Slutsky admitted holding the so-called "referendums" on joining the occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions to the Russian Federation before the end of this summer.

And yesterday, representatives of the occupation administration of Zaporizhzhia region, appointed by Russian troops, announced the "nationalization" of property, resources and land in order to preserve the "national heritage" of the inhabitants.

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