Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that he anticipates stability to prevail in the areas of Lugansk and Donetsk (east), as well as Zaporizhia and Kherson, despite the retreat of his forces in several towns in the south and east of Ukraine, particularly those recently taken by Russia (south).
In a meeting with a number of teachers in the country, which was broadcast on state television, today, Wednesday, he stressed that Moscow has great respect for the Ukrainian people despite the current situation, in reference to the fighting that erupted since last February.
He also saw that “the liberation of new lands became possible thanks to the Russian army,” as he put it, while it was not clear whether he was planning to take over other Ukrainian regions.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, stated earlier today that “the lands taken by his country a few days ago in Ukraine will remain Russian forever.
Regarding the Russian soldiers’ withdrawal from some of those places, particularly the Lyman region of Donetsk and the coastal city of Kherson, Peskov argued that there is no conflict between the Russian army’s restoration of such areas and the Russian territories’ admission to Ukraine.
It is noteworthy that the Ukrainian army has recently outperformed its Russian counterpart militarily in both the country’s east and south.
A breach was declared by the Ukrainian governor of the Lugansk region (east), which had previously been completely under Moscow’s control.
Sergey Gaidai announced in a video uploaded on Telegram earlier today that “it is now official, the process of terminating the occupation of the Lugansk region has begun, after numerous towns were liberated from the grip of the Russian army.” Gaidai did not provide any other information.
In addition to declaring that nearly the entire Kharkiv region (northeast) is now under Ukrainian control, Ukraine declared a breakthrough in the north of the southern Kherson region on Tuesday. This opened the road to Luhansk, the bastion of separatists Moscow installed since 2014.
The Ukrainians were defeated in Kherson, according to Russian officials who also emphasised that they were getting ready for a retaliatory counterattack in which they would retake the locations from which they had withdrawn to the east and south.
Putin: Despite the circumstances, we have a great deal of respect for the Ukrainian people.
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