The Kremlin may not have abandoned its “maximalist goals” in Ukraine, despite Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov admitting for the first time that Moscow’s current territorial goal is to fully conquer the four partially occupied Ukrainian regions that it claims to have annexed after referendums, according to the latest assessment of the conflict by the Institute for the Study of War.

Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov answered a journalist’s question about the Kremlin’s initial goals for the war on Thursday that one of the Kremlin’s main goals in Ukraine is “the protection of the residents of southeastern Ukraine and Donbas.”

According to Peskov, there are no talks about the annexation of new territories, since “a lot still needs to be done” for the full occupation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

However, Peskov reiterated that the Kremlin continues to pursue its goals of “demilitarization” and “denazification” in Ukraine, confirming that Russia is still seeking regime change and eliminating Ukraine’s ability to resist future Russian attacks or pressure, he believes, ISW.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invocation of Russian imperial history and his recent remarks about Russia’s role as the sole “guarantor of Ukrainian sovereignty” are further evidence that the Kremlin is creating the conditions for a protracted war aimed at eradicating Ukrainian sovereignty.

What is Putin looking for?

ISW believes that the Kremlin’s deliberately inconsistent messages are part of an operation to mislead the West in order to push Kyiv to negotiate and offer concessions.

Nevertheless, the Kremlin’s pro-Western messaging continues to anger Russia’s pro-war military blogging community, which increasingly accuses the Kremlin of deviating from its original war goals in Ukraine.

A well-known media blogger stated that “the accession of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions was not one of the declared goals of the February 24 special operation.”

Lesser-known tabloids have argued that Putin lacks the ability to continue pursuing his “maximalist goals” after multiple retreats and failed offensive campaigns, prompting the Kremlin to embrace protracted war as a means of draining Ukraine.

Perhaps Putin is deliberately distancing his rhetoric from the unrealistic demands of nationalists regarding Russia’s military actions in Ukraine.

Putin said that to help Russia achieve its military goals, Russians must stop engaging in information skirmishes and curb their impulses to believe fake information and leaks.

Putin wants to curb Russian military bloggers

Perhaps Putin is trying to keep the tabloid community under control by attacking their credibility and encouraging self-censorship.

On the other hand, a senior Kremlin official explained for the first time why the Kremlin tolerates criticism from Russia’s pro-war militancy community.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova hinted that the Kremlin allows such descriptions of the war to support a unified political vision, perhaps referring to the tabloids’ continued support for Putin’s vision of conquering all of Ukraine, ISW notes.

Zakharova also suggested that Moscow is not interested in imposing information policy, as dissenting voices allow the Kremlin to monitor different opinions and their influence in society.