VLADIVOSTOK (dpa-AFX) – More than a year and a half after the start of the war of aggression he ordered, Russia’s President Wladimir Putin Ukraine again denied success in its counteroffensive. “Ukraine is carrying out a so-called counter-offensive. Of course there are no results,” Putin said on Tuesday at the economic forum in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.
In fact, the Ukrainian army had only recently liberated the village of Robotyne in the south and then reported further, smaller gains in territory.
In his speech, Putin also commented on alleged Ukrainian losses in recent weeks. However, independent Russian journalists quickly drew attention to inconsistencies: Putin, for example, spoke of around 18,000 Ukrainian armored vehicles that Russia had allegedly destroyed since the beginning of June. However, the Medusa portal pointed out that these are more vehicles than Ukraine has ever owned, according to official information – and even around 7,000 more than the Russian Defense Ministry has listed as destroyed since the start of the war. Since the beginning of the war, the Russian side in particular has repeatedly attracted attention with false claims.
At the same time, Putin declared that Russia would continue its military operations as long as the Ukrainian counteroffensive was ongoing. Moscow’s condition for possible negotiations is the recognition of several territories annexed in violation of international law as Russian. The attacked Ukraine, for which this is completely unacceptable, wants to liberate all occupied territories – including the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed in 2014 – with Western help.
Putin’s appearance in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok was also the focus of attention because the Kremlin chief wanted to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later. It was speculated that the meeting, which would also be about arms deals, could take place directly on the sidelines of the economic forum./haw/DP/mis