Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he is not planning any more “massive” attacks on Ukraine “for now” and that the Kremlin is not destroying the country. “There is no need now for massive attacks. For now,” Putin told reporters, quoted by AFP, on the sidelines of the regional summit in Kazakhstan.
These statements come at the end of a week marked by intense Russian bombardment.
In this perspective, the Kremlin leader pointed out that Russia is doing “everything necessary” in Ukraine after eight months of fighting, and at a time when the Russian forces have suffered several setbacks.
“What’s going on right now isn’t pretty, but [caso a Rússia não tivesse atacado a Ucrânia em 24 de fevereiro]we would be in the same situation a little later, and with more damaging conditions for us”, he considered.
Putin also stressed that he does not plan to expand the partial mobilization that he announced three weeks ago due to involvement in the conflict, noting that so far 220,000 men of the planned 300,000 have already been recruited and that 16,000 are already stationed “in units involved.” in combat.”
“Nothing else is planned. No proposal has been received from the Ministry of Defense and I see no need in the near future”, he declared, before admitting the end of the mobilization process “in two weeks” and acknowledging flaws in its course.
“The front line extends for 1,100 kilometers, so it is almost impossible to maintain it exclusively with troops made up of hired soldiers,” justified the Russian president, when the announcement of the mobilization implied the flight of thousands of Russians.
Putin also said he was open to negotiations with kyiv and mediation from countries such as Turkey or the United Arab Emirates, and criticized Ukrainian leaders for refusing to start talks with him.
On the contrary, the leader of the Russian Federation indicated that he has no immediate interest in holding talks with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, not even in the framework of the G20 summit scheduled for November in Indonesia.
“I don’t see the need, there is currently no trading platform,” he said during the press conference.
“We must ask him whether or not he is prepared to have these negotiations with me,” he added, also referring to Joe Biden, who said on October 6 that he was not ruling out a possible meeting with Vladimir Putin during the G20 summit in Bali.
In his remarks, the Russian head of state also acknowledged for the first time that Moscow’s partners in the former USSR are “concerned” about the conflict in Ukraine.
Last Monday, Russia carried out massive bombing raids on several Ukrainian cities, damaging electrical infrastructure and residential areas. These attacks came two days after the explosion of the Russian bridge in Crimea, a critical infrastructure, which Putin blamed on the Ukrainian secret services.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 13 million people -more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.5 million to European countries-, according to the latest data from the UN, which place this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the generality of the international community, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing them on Russia. political and economic sanctions.
Source: TSF
