Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged on Wednesday that the conflict in Ukraine was “long” and put the risk of resorting to nuclear weapons into perspective.
“We haven’t gone mad, we know what nuclear weapons are,” Putin said, speaking by videoconference to his Human Rights Council, an organization fully subordinate to the Kremlin.
The Russian president, who has always denied wanting to conquer new territories in Ukraine, has once again justified the offensive he launched more than nine months ago.
“Regarding the long process of the results of the special military operation, of course, it is a long process,” the Russian president said.
The offensive launched on February 24 was supposed to end in a lightning Russian victory, but the Ukrainian army, galvanized by Western weapons, forced Russia to give up in the spring in kyiv, then in the fall to fall back in several other regions.
Responding to one of his interlocutors on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin nevertheless noted that “the appearance of new territories” was a “significant result for Russia”.
“The Sea of Azov has become an inland sea, this is a serious thing”, he proclaimed, referring to this sea bordering Russia and the south-east of Ukraine, of which Moscow now controls all the shore.
In addition, Mr. Putin claimed in September the annexation of four Ukrainian regions although Russian control there is only partial and the fighting is daily.
This month, the Russian army had to retreat from Kherson, capital of the eponymous region that Russia considers its own. A humiliating withdrawal which followed that in September of the North-East of Ukraine.
The Kremlin had always denied that its offensive against Ukraine was intended to conquer new territories, claiming to want to defend the Russian-speaking populations and put an end to the alliance between kyiv and the West, considered threatening by Russia.
Nuclear war
After several threats from Russian officials in recent months, Putin hinted Wednesday that Moscow will only use nuclear weapons in response to such an attack.
“We considered weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons, as a means of defence. (Using it) is built around what is called the “retaliatory strike”: if we are struck, we are struck in response”, added the Russian president.
He nevertheless noted that “the threat of nuclear war is growing” in view of the Russia-West confrontation around Ukraine, making the Americans and Europeans responsible.
A few minutes earlier, during this same meeting by videoconference, Mr. Putin returned to the mobilization of 300,000 reservists, civilians therefore, noting that only half were immediately deployed in Ukraine.
The announcement of the mobilization had provoked an exodus of Russians abroad and revealed the army’s serious equipment problems.
Mr. Putin assured on Wednesday that he did not foresee a new wave at the present time.
On the front, the bombardments continued on Wednesday with in particular six civilians killed and five wounded in a Russian strike on the city of Kurakhové, near Donetsk, in the East where most of the fighting is currently concentrated.
“A market, a bus station, gas stations and apartment buildings were the targets of strikes,” denounced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Ecocide”
The day before, in Donetsk itself, under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014, six civilians had been killed in Ukrainian strikes, according to local authorities.
Faced with its setbacks on the ground, the Kremlin has decided since October to concentrate attacks on Ukrainian energy installations, depriving the population of electricity, even water and heating, when the temperatures are negative.
The Russian army thus fired a barrage of some 70 missiles at Ukrainian infrastructure on Monday, causing only moderate destruction, however, according to kyiv, which claims to have intercepted 60 of these warheads thanks to its anti-aircraft defense, partly provided by its Western allies. .
The conflict has also had a heavy price for Ukraine’s wildlife with the death of thousands of dolphins in the Black Sea in recent months, an “ecocide” denounced on Wednesday by Mr. Zelensky.
According to him, the Ukrainians “collect the evidence of these crimes and intend to hold Russia accountable”.