With over a month of war and horrific scenes of destruction in Ukraine, the West is still unable to figure out what is going on in Russia's President Vladimir Putin's mind. Intelligence officials in NATO countries and the US assumed earlier that the war aimed to destroy major infrastructure in Ukraine in an attempt to make it weaker so that it could never be rebuilt again and send a message to the Western allies that Moscow could take unpredictable decisions if it is infuriated.
Although Russia has not completely removed the current government in Ukraine and has not won the war it has largely destroyed lives in Ukraine and sent a clear message to the West. But despite causing a lot of destruction in Ukraine, why is Russia not still stopping the war?
This remains a serious question while many believe that at this stage Putin has either entered into 'Hitler mode' or has some hidden plans.
Putin Eyes Annexing Donbas
The West has analyzed that Russia is planning to annex the Donbas region and encircle Ukrainian troops in the area as Russia reshaped its military goals in recent days.
Ukraine's eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk have been seized by Russian-backed separatists for years but Ukrainian troops are also present in the region which signal that it would not be easy for Russia to carry out attacks in the region.
Russia is not completely wrong in this invasion as it has been proven that US-backed Biolabs were operational on Ukraine's border with Russia, endorsing speculations that the West was involved in some dirty plans to threaten Russia in the worst-case scenario.
Russia has also witnessed immense loss in the war, from its troops to its weaponry and others. However, it has destroyed Ukraine's key infrastructure and ruined businesses, a development that normalcy would not be back easily in Ukraine and continuous attacks have maintained a fear that the region can easily plunge into the war in the future. Therefore, if the war ends, large businesses will rarely consider comings back to Ukraine as it could easily become a war zone again.
Putin's Plans to Establish Puppet Regime in Ukraine
Some Western experts have ensured that it is not Ukraine's infrastructural destruction that Putin wanted, he actually aimed to remove the current regime from power and potentially assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky, who Russia believes has been acting at the behest of the US and NATO and was implying larger threats to Moscow for future.
Reports also emerged that Putin wanted to instill his puppet at the position of Zelensky with the war and it could have been his secondary objective in the initial days of the war as Moscow believed earlier that they would claim victory over Ukraine within days.
However, after a month the goals have now potentially changed as Western businesses have suspended their operations in Russia and the country is also facing sanctions with its financial condition being weaker.
But despite massive opposition across the world and merely a few countries' support to Russia, Putin is still behind his early goals to remove the current regime and implant a Russia-inclined regime that could never ever dare to act against Moscow.
If his assassination attempts against Zelensky and the removal of the current government in Ukraine become successful, the development will be a big slap to the West and NATO, which are being regularly urged to support Ukraine directly as the two were really involved in infuriating this conflict.
