According to sources close to the Kremlin from the Bloomberg news service, V. Putin expects the complete occupation of the region, which accounts for 4.4% of Ukraine’s territory and where more than 4 million people lived before the war, to occur within the next 6 months.
Last August, the Russian military leadership promised V. Putin that the Ukrainian front would collapse by October–November, and the Donetsk region would finally be fully occupied by the middle of the fourth year of the war.
In spring 2026, the deadlines were moved to this autumn. In summer, the military forces again promised that Donbas would be completely under Russian control by the end of the year.
According to Bloomberg sources, the final deadline has now been postponed to the end of February next year.
Deputy head of the Ukrainian President’s Office Pavlo Palisa previously said that Russian soldiers themselves asked the Russian leadership to move the final deadline for the occupation of Donbas to March 31 next year.
Since the beginning of the war, according to the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW), V. Putin has postponed the deadlines for the complete occupation of the Donetsk region 15 times, which the Russian army controls 79.89% of (21.17 thousand sq. km).
In August, Russian forces in Donbas advanced at a rate of 2.36 sq.km per day, and at this pace, analysts say, the region will not fall into the Kremlin’s hands before October 2032.
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Experts have noted that V. Putin’s perception of the battlefield situation is based on a “fabricated reality,” which is likely the result of chronic lies from the highest military leadership.
For example, in November 2025, Russian General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov reported to V. Putin about the complete occupation of Kupiansk and the encirclement of Ukrainian forces, but in reality, fighting for this city has been ongoing for almost a year.
V. Putin himself announced on September 1 about the alleged takeover of control in the city of Sviatohirsk, although according to so-called Russian military bloggers, this is another lie.
This week, the commander of the 3rd Army Corps of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky, filmed a video from Sviatohirsk and suggested to the Russian leadership to “take off their clown noses.”
However, according to Bloomberg sources, Donbas remains V. Putin’s main goal. They say the Russian leader does not want to end the war until this region is completely under Russian control.
Sources indicated that over the next six months, the Kremlin plans to intensify strikes on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure to make people’s lives unbearable and thus hopes to change Ukrainians’ attitude towards continuing the war.
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