Russia seeks to transform occupied territories of Ukraine into 'gray zone'

"Russia has no real plans to restore the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. What we see is nothing but informational manipulation. The goal is to transform these areas into a 'gray zone' of ongoing ecological disaster, a nationwide dumping ground, land unfit for cultivation or habitation," Danilov wrote.

He noted that Russia's inability to defeat Ukraine militarily has led to attempts to compensate for military shortcomings through a "scorched earth" approach.

The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council emphasized that Russia does not intend to reinstate operations of enterprises in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine with the aim of integrating them into Russia's economic and energy systems.

He believes that the Russians want to bring still-functioning enterprises to a critical state, including the potential use of critical infrastructure objects as "technological weapons" to create maximum obstacles for the advancing actions of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

"Only a complete de-occupation of these territories guarantees economic and social transformation," Danilov emphasized.