that in itself is significant, but the fact he said main goal now is liberation of donbas is very different. granted this is an area of eastern ukraine that s been partially under the control of russian-backed separatists for years, since 2014. so on the ground that may not mean much, but in terms of messaging it s different. president vladimir putin denied that ukraine had a right to exist, said should be demilitarized, denazi-ified, toppling of the current government, presumably. it hasn t happened. russian troops east of kyiv have been beaten back, what we re seeing is shift of messaging, trying to reframe the narrative. and what may be happening here is that russia keep in mind