Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday vowed that his country would continue to attack Ukraine until Moscow achieves its unspecified “noble” goals, saying that economic sanctions imposed by the West on the United States and its allies are backfiring would.
In his first public comments on the war in more than a week, during a visit to the Vostochny space launch facility in Russia’s Far East, Putin said Moscow’s offensive against neighboring Ukraine is on track, despite the Kremlin acknowledging “significant” troop losses.
Putin assured that The “Military Operation will continue until its full completion and the fulfillment of the specified tasks”, without giving further details of its ultimate goals.
The United States and the United Kingdom reaffirm their commitment to Kyiv
Putin’s comments came as US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson discussed Putin’s trip to Ukraine last weekend.
The White House reported that the two leaders “reaffirmed their commitment to continue providing security and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in the face of Russia’s ongoing atrocities” and “appreciated continued cooperation with allies to lift sanctions against Russia “because of its war ” to impose unjustified”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a
Ukraine, despite massive Russian attacks on some cities and the destruction of hospitals and housing construction has thwarted Moscow’s attempt to overthrow the Ukrainian government, and now Russia is focusing its attacks on the east of the country.
Putin said Russian determination against Western sanctions is being strengthened and “the Russian people will always strengthen their unity in a difficult situation.”
The Russian leader argued that “common sense must prevail,” adding that the West must “come to reason and make balanced decisions without losing sight of that.”
Putin said that the West announced on a day when the United States the highest inflation rate in 40 years, is being shaken by rising consumer prices. He called European leaders “puppets” of politicians in Washington who are harming their own countries by supporting Ukraine.
Some Western leaders have called for investigations into alleged war crimes committed by Putin as the person most responsible for the actions of Russian troops.
Selenskyj calls for new measures
Also on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the European Union to sanction all Russian banks and halting Russian oil imports while issuing his latest appeal on Tuesday, asking for support to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking via video to MPs in Lithuania, Zelenskyy said that if European nations continue to trade with Russia, “Russian leaders know they can get away with it.”
EU members have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russian officials and companies, but have been reluctant to quickly halt oil and gas imports from Moscow, Zelenskyy claims.
Some European leaders have expressed concerns about how such measures would affect their economies given their dependence on Russian energy supplies.
Ukraine on Tuesday said Russian forces are attempting to seize control of the country the besieged port city of Mariupolin the south while preparing to expand activities in the eastern Donetsk region.
The assessment came as Britain’s MoD said it expected fighting in eastern Ukraine “to intensify over the next two to three weeks as Russia continues to refocus efforts there”. A ministry statement said Russia is withdrawing more of its armed forces from neighboring Belarus and moving them to eastern Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said in a video address Monday night that he fears Russia could use chemical weapons in Ukraine and called on the West to impose tougher sanctions on Russia to prevent the use of such weapons.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the United States could not confirm reports that chemical weapons had already been used, but said if they were true “they are deeply concerning.”
Kirby said the reports “reflect concerns we had about Russia’s potential to use a variety of riot-control tools, including tear gas laced with chemical agents in Ukraine.”
* Some of the information for this report comes from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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