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Russia plans to take full control of Donbas and Southern Ukraine as part of the second phase of the military operation, the deputy commander of Russia's central military district said on Friday, the Interfax news agency reported.
He was also cited as saying that Russia planned to forge a land corridor between Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and Donbas.
"Since the start of the second phase of the special operation... one of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine," Major General Rustam Minnekaev said, adding that this would create a "land corridor" to annexed Crimea.
Russia's defence ministry also said on Friday it had struck 58 military targets in Ukraine overnight, including sites where troops, fuel depots and military equipment were concentrated.
The ministry said it had also struck three targets using high-precision missiles in Ukraine, including an S-300 air defence system and a large concentration of Ukrainian troops with their equipment.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Mariupol made a new appeal on Friday for the "full evacuation" of the southern Ukrainian city which President Vladimir Putin says is now controlled by Russian forces.
"We need only one thing - the full evacuation of the population. About 100,000 people remain in Mariupol," Mayor Vadym Boichenko said on national television.
Boichenko, who is no longer in Mariupol, did not provide any update on any fighting in or around the city on the Sea of Azov. But he said, without giving details, that Russian forces' "mockery" of those left in Mariupol continued.
Boichenko told Reuters in an interview on Thursday that Putin alone can decide the fate of the civilians still trapped in Mariupol.
Under heavy bombardment, citizens who did not flee during nearly two months of siege and fighting have suffered without electricity, heating or water.
Boichenko has said tens of thousands of residents have been killed. The figure cannot be verified. Russia denies targeting civilians.