Ukraine focuses on isolating Crimea in 2024

According to Ria Novosti, in an interview with the Economist Magazine (UK) on January 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that in 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces will focus on operations on the Crimean peninsula, and switch to a defensive position in the East.

"Isolating Crimea and weakening Russia's military capabilities on the peninsula is of particular importance to us," Ukrainian President Zelensky stressed.

According to Mr. Zelensky, Crimea and the Black Sea will become the focus of Kiev's goals and military efforts. Mr. Zelensky called those plans for the future of the Ukrainian Armed Forces "an example for the whole world."

President Zelensky said that in the East, the armed forces will go on the defensive. The defense of Kharkov, Dnepr, Zaporozhye, Kherson and Nikolaev is the "immediate task" of the Ukrainian army.

However, the Ukrainian leader did not set a deadline, or make a commitment to retake control of any territories by 2024.

Meanwhile, according to Ria Novosti, servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are massively refusing to carry out combat missions. Many of them also complain that drivers do not even want to transport reinforcements and food and necessities to the front line.

According to a Ukrainian serviceman who spoke to Ria Novosti, the refusal to perform combat duties within the unit was not an isolated case, but a collective action by five units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the same time.

Another serviceman said the Ukrainian command quickly moved all lightly wounded to combat positions, which prevented the soldiers from receiving adequate and necessary treatment.

As the Ukrainian Armed Forces refuse to engage in mass combat, Ria Novosti reports that Kiev is using barricades. On December 31, Ria Novosti published a video showing a Ukrainian serviceman being shot dead by his own comrades after a group of Ukrainian soldiers abandoned their positions after being attacked by Russian units.