‘No need for massive attacks’: Putin assumes there are other targets

The Russian president said, on Friday, that he does not expect new “large-scale” attacks in Ukraine, after the missile and drone bombings earlier this week in response to the partial destruction of the Crimean bridge, which he blamed on Kyiv.

At a press conference after a regional summit in Kazakhstan, Vladimir Putin declared, “At the moment, there is no need for massive attacks. Currently, there are other targets. At the moment. We’ll see later,” and also emphasized that it was not aimed “to destroy Ukraine.”

From this perspective, the Kremlin leader noted that Russia is doing “everything that is necessary” in Ukraine after eight months of fighting, at a time when Russian forces experienced several setbacks.

“What is currently happening is not pleasant, but [caso a Rússia não tivesse atacado a Ucrânia a 24 de fevereiro]He considered that we would be in the same situation soon after, and under conditions more harmful to us.”

Putin also stressed that he does not plan to expand the partial mobilization that he announced three weeks ago to participate in the conflict, noting that so far 220,000 men have been recruited from 300,000 planners, and that there are already 16,000 “in units involved in the fighting.”

He stated, before acknowledging that the mobilization process would end “in two weeks”, acknowledging the flaws in its path, “Nothing more is planned. No proposal has been received from the Ministry of Defense and I see no need in the foreseeable future.” “The front line extends 1,100 kilometers, so it is almost impossible to maintain it exclusively with troops formed by contracted soldiers,” the Russian president justified, when announcing the mobilization implicitly, the flight of thousands of Russians from the country.

Putin also said he was open to negotiations with Kyiv and to mediation from countries such as Turkey or the United Arab Emirates, criticizing the Ukrainian leadership for refusing to start talks with him.

On the contrary, the leader of the Russian Federation indicated that he had no immediate interest in holding talks with his American counterpart, Joe BidenEven within the framework of the G20 summit scheduled for November in Indonesia. “I don’t see a need, currently there is no negotiating platform,” he said during the press conference.

Russia carried out last Monday Huge explosions About many Ukrainian cities that Damaged electrical infrastructure and residential areas. These attacks came two days after the explosion in Russian Crimean Bridgean important infrastructure, which Putin attributed to the Ukrainian intelligence services.