ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 22, 2025
Russian President Vladimir Putin is fostering the formation of an informal state ideology based on Russian nationalism that positions Russia in opposition to the West as part of ongoing efforts to militarize and unify Russian society.
Russian Investigative Committee Head Alexander Bastrykin — one of the most outspoken Russian ultranationalists in Putin’s inner circle — expressed support for the inclusion of an informal state ideology based on Russian nationalism in the Russian Constitution.
Russian authorities are renewing their years-long narrative rejecting the legality of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, possibly to deny Ukrainian and Belarusian sovereignty and independence in the future.
Russian authorities and state media continue to publicly question the legitimacy of the Ukrainian negotiating team and the Ukrainian government, likely to further efforts to reject and delay negotiations and to set conditions to renege on any future peace agreement with Ukraine.
Recent Western reporting provided additional details in a case in which Russian forces executed Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in November 2024, supporting ISW’s assessment that high-level Russian military commanders are likely involved in these executions.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov confirmed on May 22 Colonel General Andrei Mordvichev’s appointment as Russian Ground Forces Commander.
Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Toretsk, and Russian forces recently advanced near Vovchansk, Toretsk, and Velyka Novosilka.
Source: ISW