- Putin has warned of new threats from abroad and traitors at home.
- Drones cause major damage to Ukraine’s energy grid.
- Putin Visits Belarus, Kyiv Fears It Could Get Into War
KYIV: President Vladimir Putin said that the situation in the four regions of Ukraine that Moscow has declared as part of Russia.Extremely difficult“And ordered security services to step up surveillance to secure their borders and deal with new threats.
Putin’s comments came on the occasion of Security Services Day, which is widely celebrated in Russia Cafe More weapons were renewed after Russian drones hit energy targets and fears grew that Moscow’s ally Belarus could launch a new offensive against Ukraine.
Putin ordered the Federal Security Services (FSB) to step up surveillance of Russian society and the country’s borders to deal with the “emergence of new threats”. From abroad And traitors at home.
In a rare admission that an invasion of Ukraine would not be easy, Putin warned of the difficult situation in the regions of Ukraine that Moscow annexed in September and told the FSB to ensure the “safety” of people living there. Ordered.
“The situation in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, Kherson and Zaporizhia is extremely difficult,” Putin said in comments translated by Reuters late on Monday.
In September, a defiant Putin moved to annex part of Ukraine — about 15 percent of the country — at a Kremlin ceremony, but earlier this month, he said war “could be a long process.” “
Putin’s move to annex the territories was condemned by Kyiv and its Western allies as illegal.
On Monday, Putin made his first visit to Belarus since 2019, where he and his counterpart praised ever-closer ties but barely mentioned Ukraine at a late-evening news conference.
Kyiv, meanwhile, was seeking more weapons from the West after Russian “kamikaze” drones hit energy targets early Monday.
“Weapons, shells, new defense capabilities… everything that will give us the ability to speed up the end of this war,” President Vladimir Zelensky said in his evening address.
Ukraine’s military high command said its air defenses had shot down 23 of 28 drones – mostly over the capital Kyiv – in what was Moscow’s third airstrike in six days. Russia has targeted Ukraine’s power grid, causing blackouts amid sub-zero temperatures.
The “kamikaze” drones used in the attacks are cheaply manufactured, disposable unmanned aircraft that fly toward their target before falling at speed and detonating on impact.
Belarus activity
In northwest Ukraine, Russian and Belarusian military activity has continued for months in Belarus, a close Kremlin ally that Moscow’s troops used as a launchpad for their failed February attack on Kyiv.
Putin’s visit to Minsk has raised fears of wider involvement of the Belarusian armed forces in the attack in Ukraine. Putin and Lukashenko barely touched on Ukraine at a news conference after the talks, instead extolling the benefits of the defense and economic alignment.
Lukashenko has repeatedly said he has no intention of sending his country’s troops to Ukraine, where Moscow’s offensive failed miserably with battlefield retreats in the face of a major counterattack.
The Kremlin on Monday rejected suggestions that Putin wanted to push Belarus into a more active role. RIA Novosti news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying such reports were “baseless” and “stupid”.
Both Putin and Lukashenko were at pains to reject the idea of Russia annexing or being absorbed into Belarus.
Putin said that Russia has no interest in absorbing anyone.
Asked about the comment, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said it should be regarded as “the height of irony”, as it was “coming from a leader who is currently at his second most peaceful. trying to violently absorb the next. -next door neighbor.”
The fight continues.
The 10-month-old conflict in Ukraine, Europe’s biggest since World War II, has killed tens of thousands of people, driven millions from their homes and reduced cities to rubble.
Ukraine’s General Staff said Russian artillery hit 25 towns and villages in the east around Bakhmut and Ivodiuka, and several areas around Kopyansk, a northeastern town captured by Ukraine in September.
It also said that Ukrainian air force and artillery carried out more than a dozen strikes on Russian troops and hardware, including ammunition dumps, and shot down two helicopters.
The Russian-installed mayor of the city of Donetsk, Alexei Kolemzin, said Ukrainian shelling had hit a wing of the hospital with a kindergarten, posting a photo on The Telegraph showing a waiting room with broken furniture and fittings. .
Reuters could not independently verify either side’s accounts of the battlefield.
Russia says it is conducting a ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine to rid it of nationalists and protect Russian-speaking communities. Ukraine and the West call the Kremlin’s actions an unprovoked war of aggression.