A senior Russian official has said the “first stage” of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine had been completed and that forces would now focus on the “liberation” of the eastern Donbass region. The comments by Sergei Rudskoi, the deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, were seen as a signal that after one month of war the Kremlin could be scaling back its ambitions. “By and large, the basic tasks of the first stage of the operation have been fulfilled,” Rudskoi said, according to the Interfax news agency. “The combat potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been si…