President Vladimir Putin says Russia has barely “started yet” in Ukraine and challenges the West to try to defeat it on the battlefield.
Key points:
- Putin referred to the possibility of negotiations in a speech to parliamentary leaders
- Russia has accused the West of waging a power war against it by hammering its economy with sanctions
- Russian forces have captured large tracts of Ukraine, including the entire Luhansk region
In an ultra-Falconist speech to parliamentary leaders more than four months after Russia’s conflict with its neighbor, Putin said the prospects for any negotiations would darken as the conflict drags on.
“Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. What can you say, let them try,” he said.
Russia has accused the West of waging a power war against it by hammering its economy with sanctions and increasing the supply of advanced weapons to Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin says the Russian army has barely started in Ukraine. (Reuters: Thomas Peter)
But while boasting that Russia was getting in the way, Putin also referred to the possibility of negotiations.
It was the first reference to diplomacy in many weeks after repeated statements by Moscow that negotiations with Kyiv had completely broken down.
A pro-Russian soldier loads rocket-propelled grenades into an infantry fighting vehicle in Mariupol, Ukraine. (Reuters: Alexander Ermochenko)
Read more about the Russian invasion of Ukraine:
Since launching what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian forces have captured large tracts of the country, including the conquest of the eastern Luhansk region last Sunday.
But Russia’s progress has been much slower than many analysts predict, and Russian forces were reduced in the first attempts to take the capital, Kyiv, and the second city, Kharkiv.
Prussian troops drive armored vehicles to Mariupol, now occupied by Russia. (Reuters: Alexander Ermochenko)
Russia says its “special operation” aims to degrade Ukraine’s military capabilities and eliminate what it calls dangerous nationalists.
Ukrainian forces have mounted strong resistance and the West has imposed heavy sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.
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Reuters
Posted 1 hour 1 hour ago Friday, July 8, 2022 at 2:00 AM, updated 1 hour ago Friday, July 8, 2022 at 2:24 AM