(Samarkand) Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia was in no hurry to complete its military campaign in Ukraine, assuring that the strategy of Russian forces had not changed and that they continued to conquer territories.
Posted at 12:36 p.m.
Updated at 12:52 p.m.
“Our offensive operations in the Donbass do not stop, they advance at a slow pace […] the Russian army is occupying more and more new territories,” he told a press conference from Samarkand in Uzbekistan.
“I emphasize that we are not fighting with our entire army. We are only fighting with the party under contract (professional, editor’s note)”, he added, while the Kremlin has officially banned the sending of conscripts to the front and refuses to general mobilization in the country.
“The plan (of operations, editor’s note) does not require any change […] we are not in a hurry, ”said Mr. Putin again.
He said the operations were continuing despite major counter-offensives by the Ukrainian army in the northeast and south of the country.
“Kyiv authorities have announced that they have started an active counter-offensive. Well, we’ll see how it will end, ”simply commented Vladimir Putin.
According to him, the Kremlin’s key objective remains “the liberation of the entire territory of Donbass”, a mining basin in eastern Ukraine made up of the Luhansk region, already under the control of the Russian army, and that of Donetsk, part of which still eludes Moscow.
Vladimir Putin also accused Kyiv of carrying out “terrorist acts” and inflicting damage on Russian infrastructure. “We’re really responding to that with restraint, for now,” he said.
“The Russian forces recently carried out a series of strikes there which were felt. Let’s say these are warning keystrokes. But if the situation continues to evolve in this direction, then our response will be more serious,” he warned.