“Our offensive operations in Donbass are not stopping, they are progressing slowly,” the Russian president said as the Ukrainian army launched a blinding counteroffensive.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday September 16 that Russia was in no hurry to complete its military campaign in Ukraine, assuring that the strategy of Russian forces had not changed and that they would continue to seize territories.
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“Our offensive operations in Donbass do not stop, they are progressing slowly (…) the Russian army is occupying more and more new areas,” he said during a press conference meeting from Samarkand in Uzbekistan. “I stress that we are not fighting with our entire army. We fight only with the treaty part (Profi, ed.),” he added, while the Kremlin has officially banned the sending of conscripts to the front and refuses a general mobilization in the country.
“The plan (of the operations, editor’s note) does not need to be changed (…) we are in no hurry,” Vladimir Putin reassured. He said operations would continue despite major counter-offensives by the Ukrainian army in the north-east and south of the country. “The Kiev authorities have announced that they have launched an active counteroffensive. Well, we’ll see how it ends,” Vladimir Putin said simply.
According to him, the main goal of the Kremlin remains “the liberation of the entire Donbass region,” a mining basin in eastern Ukraine consisting of the Lugansk region, which is already under the control of the Russian army, and the Donetsk region, which includes part still eludes Moscow.
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Vladimir Putin also accused Kyiv of committing “acts of terrorism” and causing damage to Russia’s infrastructure. “We are really reacting to this with restraint for the time being,” he said. “Russian forces recently carried out a series of strikes there, which were felt. Let’s assume these are warning keystrokes. But if the situation continues to develop in this direction, our reaction will become more serious,” he warned.