Moscow will achieve its objectives in Ukraine by military route if the negotiations with kyiv fail, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Wednesday, September 3, ensuring that his troops remained “in the offensive” on the whole front.
“Let’s see how the situation will develop. Otherwise (if the conversations are not successful, note of the editor), we will have to solve our problems militarily,” he said from Beijing.
“All Russian armed forces groups are offensive” in all sectors of the front, he added, believing that kyiv’s troops could not afford “great offensive operations” and tried to only maintain their positions.
“Let Moscow come”
More numerous and better equipped, the Russian army has been nibbled by the field for months in certain areas of the front, mainly in the Donetsk (East) region, despite the great losses.
Vladimir Putin challenged the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, describing him as a “chief of administration”, while making sure he would be ready to meet him.
“If Zelensky is ready, he comes to Moscow,” said Vladimir Putin.
Moscow accuses Volodymyr Zelensky of being “illegitimate” because his five -year presidential mandate should have expired in 2024. But the martial law, in force in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian assault in 2022, avoids the organization of the elections.
9 dead in Ukraine
On the Ukrainian front, strikes continue. The Russian attacks killed at least nine people and wounded seven others in Kostiiantynykka, the city of eastern Ukraine near the front, said the governor of the Donetsk region on Wednesday, September 3.
“Nine people died and seven were injured,” said Vadym Filchkin in Telegram, explaining that nine dead, eight were victims of artillery bombings and the last of a drone attack.
Source: BFM TV
