© Sergey Bobylev/TASS

August 24 marks six months since Russia launched its military operation to protect the people of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

The decision was made amid the escalated regional situation when the DPR and LPR authorities reported increased shelling by Ukraine, announced the evacuation of civilians to Russia and asked Moscow to recognize their independence, for which read to protect them from an imminent Ukrainian attack, an inevitable massacre of their pro-Russian population, most of whom were citizens of the Russian Federation.

The answer could only be positive.

Defining the operation’s key tasks, Vladimir Putin stated that its overall aim was to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine to eventually contribute to ensuring Russia's national security. Six months have passed since then.

Both then and now, one of the most important issues has been the timing of fights in Ukraine. Apart from its high and noble tasks, the special military operation has a fundamental geostrategic goal, be it noted. Just a reminder: in December 2021, President Putin demanded that NATO be moved to the borders of 1997, threatening a "military-technical" response. The United States and NATO refused. Therefore, in the strategic context the President clearly outlined the mission as ensuring Russia’s national security.

This can help predict where and when the Russian troops will stop in Ukraine. Given that the United States and its NATO allies are not even considering to move their troops to the 1997 border, there is no more talk about the operation’s time frame. Confrontation with the West will require Russia’s bracing up and, naturally, time. The safety of our country is not a field for compromise.

Yes, US President Joe Biden has already started horse-trading and hinted at chances for "satisfying" Russia with the territories it has taken control of for the time being. He is even ready to let Moscow sell discounted oil and fertilizers to the United States. Such an outcome is humiliating, but by no means catastrophic to Washington — it gives breathing room, holding out a hope of a complete destruction of the Russian state, let's say, "later." This is the ultimate goal of the US-led collective West providing Kiev with tremendous military and financial assistance. At the same time, one has to understand that Ukraine with its current ideology and policy is just a tool in their hands to destroy Russia. Just that much.

Vladimir Putin assures that "all is going according to the plan." But amid the ongoing shelling of Donetsk and the slow advance of the Russian army, it is not entirely clear and even annoying to many people — how can it be? But Moscow acts within the limits of military, political and economic expediency. Therefore, endurance in the face of provocations and outright harassment, and trade with "unfriendly countries" must be assumed as necessary if this contributes to the ultimate goal of achieving perfect strategic security.

But expediency suggests a lot more.

Not so long ago, President Putin gave a meaningful response to both our society and the entire West, with its troops actually fighting the allied force in Ukraine, when asked about concerns related to the supply of new and dangerous types of Western weapons to Kiev. He made it clear he was not afraid of those. And if the United States sends long-range missiles to Ukraine, Russia’s response will be not long in coming, he warned.

Here let’s, perhaps, recall the Russian leader’s words of July 7 at a Kremlin meeting with State Duma leaders and heads of parliamentary factions. He said: "Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. Well, what can you say here? Let them try. We have already heard a lot that the West wants to fight with us ‘to the last Ukrainian.’ This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is heading toward this. But everyone should know that, by and large, we have not started anything seriously yet."

The Kremlin is apparently ready for protracted hostilities in Ukraine. After the LPR’s complete liberation, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief must be waiting for the same in the DPR and the whole of Novorossiya — and the rest of Ukraine will be won back gradually, so that Russian soldiers and the People's Militia of the DPR and the LPR end up with minimum expected loss when advancing to Kiev and the western borders. If the United States fails to move NATO back to the borders of 1997 or provide Moscow with security guarantees (which they loathe to, as mentioned above) by that time, the Russian armed forces will approach the bloc’s borders.

It stands to reason that first deputy chairman of the international committee of Russia’s Federation Council Vladimir Dzhabarov said the special military operation should be completed on Ukraine's western borders. "Any region of Ukraine that is not affected by denazification and demilitarization will still remain an Anti-Russia project. Lethal weapons from NATO countries will continue to arrive there, from there deadly «gifts» will fly to the liberated territories, from there sabotage and terrorist groups will be sent to regions cleared of neo-Nazis," Dzhabarov stressed.

To rule this out, control has to be taken over the entire territory of Ukraine, followed by strengthening the borders with Poland, Romania and Slovakia, the senator believes. "The special military operation should be victoriously completed on the western borders of Ukraine," Dzhabarov wrote on Telegram, adding that after denazification, the regions of Ukraine will have to autonomously decide on their future as per the people's will.

This may be followed by serious talks with the US-led collective West, with its politicians to demonstrate some prudence and prevent the special operation’s possible growth into a full-scale war. There must be someone sensible among them to realize that in case of such a war, especially the one accompanied by the use of nuclear weapons, there'll be hell to pay. In the meantime, the Russian army and the allied LDRP force keep advancing westwards and liberating territories from neo-Nazis, thereby ensuring our country’s national security.