On Friday, France gave away a much of its strategy by saying that Russia couldn't invade "government-controlled' Ukraine, now there's this.
The 'damaged further' might mean that Russia formalizing control of the separatist-held areas by declaring them independent and providing formal military backing is just underscoring the damage that was done 8 years ago. It implies that damage has already been done.
Perhaps that's reading too much into this line but my base case is that Russia secures rebel-held territories, declares them independent and then dares Ukraine to do anything about it.
