Expert: Putin is changing tactics but would need SEVENTY YEARS to conquer all Ukraine

Vladimir Putin has sparked renewed fears of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine after appearing to shift his war goals to include seizing the entire country.

The Russian president declared “all of Ukraine is ours” during a speech last week, even as the world’s focus remained fixed on the conflict in the Middle East and growing concerns over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“Wherever the Russian soldier treads is ours,” Putin said at an economic forum in St Petersburg, as his forces pressed into the northern Sumy region – a territory not included in the four regions he previously annexed in 2022.

Angelica Evans, a Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), said the Russian leader began hinting at renewed ambitions back in May, when he visited the border region of Kursk and called for a 30km “buffer zone” along Ukraine’s edge.

“That was a light way to introduce that into the information space. First, it’s a buffer zone, it’s just 30km to protect Russians,” Ms Evans told The Telegraph. “Then you’re not that far from major regional cities, so why not take those?”

She added: “It’s slow-rolling what I think we eventually will see … a return to an acknowledgement to take all of Ukraine.”

This shift may help explain a recent surge in brutal strikes on civilian areas. Eighteen people were killed in Kyiv after a missile hit an apartment block, while another 17 were killed on a civilian train in Dnipropetrovsk.

Ms Evans warned: “A lot of these strikes are about undermining Ukrainian morale and for some of these settlements, that are closer to the frontline, an effort to convince people to leave and to make it easier in the future to seize these places.”

According to ISW data, Russian forces took 588 sq km of Ukrainian land in June – a steady rise from 507 sq km in May, 379 in April and 240 in March. But even at this pace, it would take Russia 70 years to conquer the entire country.

Ukrainian officials are unlikely to be surprised. During peace talks in Istanbul back in May, Russian negotiators reportedly warned that Moscow could keep fighting for another 21 years.

The reported fall of Dachne in Dnipropetrovsk would mark a major turning point. Ukraine has never previously fought a ground war in this region, and military officials have warned that the flat terrain and sparse population could make it easier for Russian forces to advance quickly.

That risk is magnified as Russia’s army advances at its fastest rate since November.

Peace negotiations, meanwhile, remain stalled. Putin has declared talks are “nowhere close” to resolution after efforts involving Donald Trump failed to gain traction.

On Monday, Russian forces claimed they had finally seized full control of Luhansk – a region they’ve largely occupied for years. If confirmed, it would mark the first time Russia has taken full control of a Ukrainian region since annexing Crimea in 2014.

But signs now point to Putin reaching beyond the four regions illegally annexed in 2022.

Russian state media has claimed that Moscow’s forces have also seized their first village in Dnipropetrovsk – a significant development in a region Ukraine has never had to defend from invading troops.

Tens of thousands of Russian soldiers are now reported to be gathering around Sumy, suggesting another major offensive may be underway.

Russia’s 2022 move to annexe Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia came after its initial failure to seize Kyiv – a tactical decision to narrow the scope of its war.

But despite nearly three years of fighting, it has taken until now – if the latest claims are verified – to claim full control of just one of those regions.

Now, the signs of a broader campaign are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Renewed assaults on Kharkiv and Sumy, cities targeted and repelled in the early months of the war, signal that Putin’s ambitions may be returning to their original – and most dangerous – form.