Putin says Ukraine acts like 'terrorist state', vows to counter Kiev’s plots
Russian President Vladimir Putin has slammed Ukraine, saying the Kiev regime is running the country like a terrorist state, and Russia will step up the work of security services to counter Kiev’s plots.
Putin told a gathering of war correspondents at the Kremlin on Tuesday that leaders in Kiev "behave like a regime based on terror.”
In response to a question about introducing martial law to deal with assassinations of journalists and public figures such as Darya Dugina and Vladlen Tatarsky, Putin said Russia differed from Ukraine in terms of its officials' adherence to laws and regulations.
“We are a government of laws, they behave like a regime based on terror,” Putin pointed out.
Russia “cannot use terrorist methods,” but will stand against Ukrainian plots, he said, concluding that there is no need to introduce martial law into Russia.
Moscow’s objectives remain unchanged
Regarding Russia's military objectives in Ukraine, Putin told the war correspondents that the goals laid out at the onset of the war were “essential” for the Kremlin, and while some parts were subject to change based on the developing situation, they still remained basically the same.
Putin said demilitarization of Ukraine is happening “gradually and methodically,” with Kiev’s troops now entirely reliant on Western weapons, equipment, and ammunition, while they are unable to produce anything locally.
There has been progress in protecting the people of Donbas, though Ukraine continues to bombard them, the Russian president said, adding that if Kiev continued with its drone strikes and incursion, Moscow may consider setting up a “buffer zone” in Ukrainian territory, to keep them out of range.
“No fundamental changes have taken place today in terms of the goals that we set for ourselves at the beginning of the operation,” Putin reiterated.
Progress of Ukraine’s offensive
In regard to Russian forces repelling the advancements of Ukrainian forces in their latest offensive, Putin said Kiev forces launched a massive offensive on four fronts and had sustained much greater losses than the Russians.
He added that in about a week since the offensive was launched, Kiev forces already lost about one-third of the arsenal provided to them by the West.
Kiev launched a large-scale offensive against Russia on June 4, using what was provided to the Ukrainian forces by the West, but without success in any of the war fronts.
“They’re taking heavy casualties. Greater than ours” by a factor of ten, Putin insisted.
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