Information from either side is to be taken with a grain of salt, although Ukraine is winning the social media ops-game hands down.
I think since after the 1st week of troop movements it's pretty clear:
- Russia aims at encircling cities, draining the resistance there, forcing them into negotiations and so that enemy combatants can evacuate into western Ukraine (like they did in Syria)
- Ukraine aims at short-term luring them into cities (e.g. preventing humanitarian corridors, creating negative pr) and long-term building up an insurgency (turning Ukraine into Russia's 2nd Afghanistan).
A recipe for humanitarian disaster.
The upside: Russia doesn't seem intent to even set foot in western Ukraine.
I think since after the 1st week of troop movements it's pretty clear:
- Russia aims at encircling cities, draining the resistance there, forcing them into negotiations and so that enemy combatants can evacuate into western Ukraine (like they did in Syria)
- Ukraine aims at short-term luring them into cities (e.g. preventing humanitarian corridors, creating negative pr) and long-term building up an insurgency (turning Ukraine into Russia's 2nd Afghanistan).
A recipe for humanitarian disaster.
The upside: Russia doesn't seem intent to even set foot in western Ukraine.