Ukrainian sources say that they expect Russia to focus on the east and the south of the country, and turn its occupation into a long-term “frozen conflict”, after it withdrew much of its troops from the vicinity of Kiev. Mihail Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that Russia is obviously changing its strategy.

There’ll be no “Afghanization” and no long conflict exhausting the Russian Federation as someone expects. RF will leave all territories except the south & east, will try to dig in there, set air defense, drastically reduce losses & dictate terms. Without heavy weapons we won’t be able to drive RF out, Podolyak said on Twitter.