Russia’s invasion of Ukraine failed on many fronts, so Putin resorted to ‘Plan D’ to ‘save face’

former deputyNational Security Consultant KT McFarland told Fox News Digital that Russia retreated On “Plan D” after failing to maintain a prolonged siege of Kyiv.

Russia reassessed its strategy and on March 25 Focus began on the axis Towards securing eastern Ukraine, which culminated in Sudden withdrawal from Kyiv and surrounding cities – a move that some intelligence and military experts claim is nothing more than an attempt to save face after a military disaster.

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“Their plan (a) was to assemble along the border as if it were an invasion, and assumed that Ukraine would surrender NATO membership and Donbass,” MacFarland said. “When Ukraine didn’t, Russia’s Plan B was to invade and take control in a few days.”

“When that didn’t happen, Russia moved on to Plan C – a protracted war and siege,” she continued. “When that didn’t work, they moved on to Plan D – integration in the east and freezing of conflict along the border: spin it as a success back home, back for the rest of Ukraine in a few years.”

MacFarland said that the prevailing belief—including her own—before the invasion was that Russia would aim to capture Donbass/Eastern Provinces. She described the complete invasion as a Russian intelligence and military failure, stressing that Russia failed to anticipate the leaders and people of Ukraine.

“Supposedly they thought that the Ukrainian leaders were bought and would run, and that Russia could form a puppet government,” she added.

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Frederic Kagan, director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute, went a step further and said the Donbass region was little more than a “consolidation prize” to make up for the “sacrifice” in Putin’s campaign.

“The general objective of the invasion was to replace Zelensky’s government with one that Moscow could control,” Kagan said. This effort has failed.”

Kagan explained that the interpretation of “Putin’s world” is that Russia “strangely” claimed to have achieved its goal around Kyiv and is now working to secure the land claimed by the republics by proxy. Moscow recognized.

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But securing these areas could provide a long-term purpose, which is to continue the erosion of Ukrainian territory and improve future invasion efforts.

“The more Ukrainian lands there are, the more difficult it will be to keep an independent Ukraine alive over time, and the greater the chances that Putin will have to conquer again after building his army or doing other things to achieve his goal of bringing down an independent Ukrainian government.”

Heavy losses in Ukraine have sent Russia into a “frantic” rush to build the army again, with stronger recruitment efforts and other shortcut methods allowing them to build an army.

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Ultimately, Kagan believes that as long as Putin or “Putinism” remains dominant in Russia, it will continue to seek the destruction of an independent Ukraine.

“It was never about Donbass, it was never about NATO, basically,” Kagan said. “[Putin] It does not accept that Ukraine has the right to an independent government, does not accept the sovereignty of Ukraine and does not accept its existence as an independent state.”