War in Ukraine hasn’t started in earnest, warns Putin
The invasion of Ukraine has yet to start “in earnest”, President Putin said as he dismissed the impact of economic sanctions on Russia and the prospect of defeat.
He made the statement in a speech to senior politicians yesterday, claiming that the West wanted to see the war continue until Russia was fighting “the last Ukrainian”, which he said would be a tragedy. There was still a possibility of a peace agreement, several weeks after talks between the two sides broke down, he added. “We don’t reject peace talks. But those who reject them should know that the further it goes, the harder it will be for [the Ukrainians] to negotiate with us. We hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. What can you say. Let them try.”
While accepting that western sanctions were causing problems at home, Putin argued that it was “not at all what the initiators of the economic blitzkrieg against Russia were counting on”. Ukraine has rejected Russian offers of peace, insisting that its conditions include a ceasefire, the withdrawal of troops, and recognition of Ukraine’s sovereign rights and reparations.
Russian shelling of Kramatorsk and Kharkiv is continuing but the fiercest fighting, in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, has paused as the invading forces prepare for a renewed offensive, according to an intelligence assessment from the Ministry of Defence in London. “Russia is likely concentrating equipment on the front line in the direction of Siversky, approximately 8km west of the current Russian front line,” it added. Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk, said that the situation in occupied Severodonetsk was “on the verge of a humanitarian disaster” with 80 per cent of housing destroyed or damaged.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, received a hostile reception when he attended a G20 summit on the Indonesian island of Bali today. He criticised the “fevered criticism” he received from western countries and objected to Russia being labelled “aggressors and occupiers”.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, refused to see him privately during the meeting.
