The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, allegedly expressed fear that if he fails to conquer Donbas, he may be killed. This information comes in a context of escalation of violence against Ukraine.
According to reports, Putin justified the increase in military aggressiveness precisely with this personal fear. The claim that "They will hang me" allegedly was used as justification for the ongoing military actions.
The conquest of Donbas thus appears as a central objective of Russian strategy, not only for geopolitical reasons, but according to this narrative, for reasons of personal survival of the Russian leader.



