In a public address about Ukraine's biggest offensive on Russian territory since the conflict between the two countries began, Mr Putin said Ukraine "with the help of Western powers" was trying to improve its position ahead of possible talks.
However, President Putin said plans to attack Russian territory to force Russia to the negotiating table were pointless. "What kind of negotiations can we have with them?" He also predicted that Ukraine would continue to make efforts to destabilize Russia's western border.
“The main task, of course, is for the Defense Ministry to repel, to drive the enemy out of our territory,” Putin said, adding that Russian forces were accelerating their advance along the rest of the 1,000-kilometer front line.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: TASS
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the war was now returning to Russia. He said Ukraine's cross-border offensive was a security issue for Ukraine and that Kiev had taken control of some areas inside Russian territory.
Ukraine's military chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Ukraine controlled 1,000 square kilometers of Russian territory, much larger than the figure Russia had suggested. The acting governor of Kursk, Alexei Smirnov, said Ukraine controlled 28 settlements in the area and that the incursion was about 12 kilometers deep and 40 kilometers wide.
In the Kursk region alone, 121,000 people have left or been evacuated, and another 59,000 are in the process of being evacuated. In Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Kursk, thousands of civilians have also been evacuated.
Ukrainian forces in Kursk are trying to encircle Sudzha, where Russian natural gas flows into Ukraine, while major battles are taking place near Korenevo and Martynovka, Russian regions about 20 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
Russia announced that Ukrainian attacks in the Kursk Region killed 12 people and injured 121. Photo: TASS
After more than two years of Europe's fiercest land war since World War II, both Russia and Ukraine have said they are considering the possibility of talks, though there is no indication yet of how this might take place.
In February, Mr Putin’s proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine to freeze the war was rejected by the US. In June, Mr Putin proposed terms for talks that included Kiev abandoning its ambitions to join NATO and withdrawing all troops from four regions that Moscow had annexed.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, following talks with China, said last month that Kiev would still only negotiate the conflict with Russia if Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity were fully respected.
Huy Hoang (according to TASS, Reuters)
Source: https://www.congluan.vn/ong-putin-noi-ukraine-tan-cong-kursk-nham-tao-loi-the-dam-phan-nhung-nga-khong-nhuong-bo-post307443.html
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