Vladimir Putin admitted on Tuesday that Russia could have been more successful in preparing the country’s southern regions, which border Ukraine, for cross-border attacks from Ukrainian territory.
“There’s nothing good about it, of course,” the Russian president said, referring to recent cross-border attacks in the Belgorod region of southern Russia.
“Someone could have assumed that the enemy would behave like this and someone could have prepared better,” he stressed. “The process is moving very fast. This problem will be solved,” said the Russian leader, widely criticized for his handling of the crisis caused in several districts of Belgorod by raids by Russian paramilitaries loyal to Kiev.
If Ukraine continues its border attacks, Putin says Russia will be forced to create what he called a “sanitary zone” on the neighboring country’s territory.
“If this continues, we may have to consider the question, and I say this very carefully, to create a kind of health zone on Ukrainian territory at such a distance that it will be impossible to reach our territory,” said the Russian . president during a meeting with Russian war correspondents in the Kremlin, broadcast on state television, quoted by international news agencies.
Putin recognized the need to better protect the border against Ukrainian attacks, sabotage and raids, especially in the Belgorod region.
“Of course we must protect our citizens (…), border security must be strengthened,” he said.
The Russian president stressed that in the region, which shares a 540-kilometer border with Ukraine, “no one” belongs to the enemy, as the army and border guards operate actively in Belgorod.
Putin has claimed that Kiev wants Moscow to divert its troops from the front line to the Ukrainian border, which Putin has firmly rejected.
Regarding drone attacks on Russian territory, Putin acknowledged that anti-missile defenses are designed against aircraft and missiles and that modern drones are made of light materials, “made of wood, quite difficult to detect”.
“Of course it would have been better if it had happened at the right time and in the right way,” he said, although he said he was “convinced” of the defense of Moscow and other major cities.
In early May, two drones hit the dome of the Senate Palace, which houses the personal office of the Russian leader.
At the same time, he did not consider it necessary to declare martial law in the country, which some politicians and military bloggers had called for, as such a regime would imply the mobilization of millions of reservists.
“People will have to be brought home at some point, this issue is being discussed in the Defense Ministry,” the Kremlin chief said.
The Russian president recalled that the law does not provide a specific date for the return of the mobilized and that everything will depend on the situation at the front.
He stressed that under the current circumstances it is “not necessary” to announce another mobilization, although he said he was aware of calls from some public figures to “mobilize another million or two million”. .
“It all depends on what we want, on our objectives,” he added.
However, he stressed that there are currently plenty of people willing to volunteer to serve in the military, such as the 156,000 men who have signed contracts with the armed forces so far this year.
During this meeting with the media, Putin also announced that Russian production of the main types of weapons increased 2.7 times last year, while production of the most sought-after weapons increased tenfold.
“We had a 2.7-fold increase in the production of the main types of weapons in one year, and for the most wanted items, we increased it 10-fold,” Putin said.
And he continued: “The companies work in two shifts, and many work in three shifts. They practically work day and night, with high quality”.
According to the Russian leader, not only is the number of weapons produced by Russia increasing, but “the quality is increasing, improving, their characteristics, range and accuracy are improving.”
“And if we hadn’t had the special military operation, we might never have known how to refine our military industry to make it the best in the world, and we’re going to do that,” he added.
And he compared this situation with that of Ukraine, which receives all its weapons from the West, but whose military industry is practically non-existent.
“The Ukrainian military-industrial complex will simply cease to exist. What are they producing? They are bringing them ammunition, they are bringing equipment, they are bringing weapons, they are bringing them all time,” he explained.
For this reason, Putin stressed, “the issue of demilitarization” of Ukraine “is placed on a practical level”.
Ukrainian losses at a “catastrophic” level
Putin went on to say that Ukrainian troops are suffering massive casualties during their counter-offensive in Russian-held areas of Ukraine.
“Their losses are approaching a level that can be described as catastrophic,” he stressed.
Russia invaded Ukraine to “demilitarize and denazify” the neighboring country, according to the objectives announced by Putin on the day of the operation’s launch, on February 24, 2022.
The conflict plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
The number of civilian and military casualties is unknown, but several sources, including the UN, have admitted it will be high.
Ukraine is counting on the support of Western allies, who are supplying Kiev with weapons to fight Russian troops.
The West has also imposed economic sanctions on Russia to try to reduce its ability to finance the war effort.
At the end of September, Putin decreed the annexation of the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporijia to the territory of the Russian Federation, having done the same with Crimea in 2014.
Ukraine and the international community in general do not recognize Russian sovereignty in the five annexed regions.
Kiev demanded the Russian withdrawal from Ukrainian territory as one of the conditions for any peace talks, but Moscow replied that the Ukrainians had to accept the new reality.
Source: DN
