Overview
- Deputy presidential aide Pavlo Palisa, in an interview published Wednesday, said Russia is weighing a buffer zone in Vinnytsia from the side of Transnistria.
- Palisa called it the first time such a plan has been recorded and said Russia does not have the forces to carry out all of its stated aims.
- He said Russia’s main push this year remains Donbas, with a possible expansion toward the Oleksandrivka front and the wider Zaporizhzhia sector if conditions favor them.
- Palisa cited steep Russian attrition, including about 316 killed or wounded per square kilometer of territory gained in Donetsk in early 2026, up from roughly 120 on average last year.
- He added that Moscow still talks of buffer zones in Kharkiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv and longer-term moves toward Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Odesa, while Zelensky said intelligence shows Ukraine’s front line is the strongest in 10 months.