Vladimir Putin has declared a new phase of the war - the security zone in Ukraine will expand until the threat to Russian border regions is eliminated. Translation: there is no end until Moscow says so. And when Moscow decides about borders, history shows that enough is never enough.

The Russian president spoke to local representatives and was blunt: by 2030, Donbas and Novorossiya must reach "all-Russian levels on key indicators." All state agencies are to work toward that goal. In other words, Moscow is no longer talking about a "special military operation" - it's talking about integrating occupied territories as part of the Russian state.

"We know how the special military operation will end and we will fulfill all set tasks," Putin declared. The phrasing is familiar - we heard the same rhetoric three years ago. But the zone of control keeps slowly expanding, and the "tasks" are never concretely defined.

For Europe, this is a clear signal that Russia isn't planning to withdraw. For Ukraine, it's a continuation of the nightmare. And for the Balkans? When a great power changes borders by force and talks about "security zones" with no end date - that's not some distant story. It's a scenario this region has lived through firsthand.