Russia says it plans to take 'full control' of Donbas and southern Ukraine

The Russian military said that it plans to take full control of Donbas and the southern region of Ukraine as part of the second phase of its "military operation" in Ukraine, the deputy commander of Russia's central military district said on Friday, the Interfax news agency reported.

He was also cited as saying that Russia planned to forge a land corridor between Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and Donbas.

"Since the start of the second phase of the special operation... one of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine," Major General Rustam Minnekaev said, adding that this would create a "land corridor" to annexed Crimea.

Minnekaev's comments were the most detailed description yet of Russia's goals in the second phase of its operation, which began after its troops pulled back from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

He added that the control of Ukraine's south will give Russia another gateway to the breakaway Transnistria region of Moldova.

"Control over the south of Ukraine is another way out to Transnistria, where there are cases of Russian-speaking people being oppressed," Minnekaev said.

Transnistria is a small breakaway region in the former Soviet republic of Moldova, where pro-Russia separatists have been armed and backed by Moscow.

Moscow recognised the independence of the separatist Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics in Ukraine's Donbas shortly before launching a military campaign on February 24 with the stated aim of protecting the Russian-speaking population there.

On Thursday, Russia announced the "liberation" of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine after besieging the strategic port city on the shores of the Sea of Azov for nearly two months.