The New Map Of The Ukraine Conflict Is Alarming

NSDCUkraine's military published a map that claims Russian-backed forces have secured crucial territory between the stronghold of Russian-backed separatists and a strategic Ukrainian city.

There is currently a shaky cease-fire in place in eastern Ukraine, although residents say it still feels like war.

If the new map is accurate, the situation further raises the specter that Moscow-backed separatists want to capture Mariupol.

"Ukraine's security council finally admits rebels have taken control of border area all the way down to Sea of Azov," journalist Alec Luhn said of the map.

Any assault on the port city would push the conflict into a a dangerous new phase as the war would immediately grow wider.

The city, if overrun by separatists, would provide Russia a strategic link between the rebel-held regional capital Donetsk to the north, the Azov Sea to the south, and the land route to the Crimean peninsula (which Russian special forces annexed in March).

Here's a look at the battlefield as of September 8, according to Reuters:

Russian President Vladimir Putin's aim in Ukraine seems to involve creating a frozen conflict with a breakaway region in Ukraine's southeast corner so that Putin can impose his will on the former Soviet republic.

Creating a land bridge with Crimea would be an even more aggressive option.

Putin has a lot of things going for him in the medium-to-long term, including Ukraine's imploding economy, the threat of a further Russian invasion, the hesitance of Europe, the fact that winter is coming, the state of Ukraine's battered army and militias.