Russian President Vladimir Putin He assured that his troops have taken 47 Ukrainian cities and towns since the beginning of 2024, which represents about 880 square kilometers. In recent months, The Russian army recorded several advances in the Donbas regionin eastern Ukraine, and On May 10, it launched an offensive a little further north, in the Kharkiv region, but so far it has not made decisive progress. “We are gradually expelling the enemy from the territory of Donbas and other adjacent territories,” he said, adding that all of Russia’s objectives in the neighboring country will be met.
Putin indicated that Since January 2024, more than 160,000 people have enlisted in the Russian army voluntarily. to fight on the Ukrainian front, emphasizing that there was no need to encourage mandatory mobilization. Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops are worn out after more than two years of conflict, which began in February 2022, and suffer from the delay in the delivery of weapons promised by Western powers and the lack of troops.
“We have no imperial ambitions”
The Russian president’s statements came two days after he gave a press conference for foreign media in which he said that he was going to deliver long-range weapons in areas where Western powers could be the target of attacks, if they provided that type of weapons to Ukraine.
“If someone thinks that it is possible to supply these weapons to a war zone to attack our territory (…) why don’t we have the right to send weapons of the same type to regions of the world where sensitive installations of countries acting against Russia?”Putin asked. “That is, the response may be asymmetrical. We will think about it,” he declared to the journalists present.
In this context, he dismissed as nonsense the allegations that Moscow plans to attack the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). “Do not look for our imperial ambitions. They do not exist”, stressed the head of the Kremlin. “Delivering weapons to a war zone is always wrong. Even more so if those who do it not only deliver weapons, but also control them. This is a very serious and very dangerous step,” he added.
Nuclear weapons
On the other hand, the Russian president did not rule out this Friday changes in the military doctrine that contemplates the use of nuclear weapons only in the event that the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are threatened, while noting that the Russian army has taken 47 Ukrainian cities and towns since the beginning of 2024.
“The doctrine is a living instrument and we carefully follow what is happening in the world, around us. And we do not rule out introducing some changes in this doctrine,” said the president during the plenary session of the International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg, referring to Western authorization for Ukraine to use the weapons supplied by NATO countries against targets in Russian territory.
Putin stressed that the doctrine contemplates the use of nuclear weapons only in extraordinary cases, that is, when the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia is threatened. “I do not consider that we find ourselves in that situation. There is no such need”he stated at the event attended by Russian businessmen and some foreign guests, such as the president of Bolivia, Luis Arce.
The problem is that, according to the Constitution, the territory of the Russian Federation also includes the Crimean peninsula and the four other regions annexed by Moscow in the east and south of Ukraine, so any attack with precision and long-range weapons could provoke a nuclear response if the doctrine is modified.
Putin too noted that Moscow recently withdrew its ratification of the treaty banning nuclear tests and recalled that the United States never ratified said document. “If necessary, we will carry out a trial, but for now there is no need for that either,” she said.
He also said that he doubts that Washington will get involved at a strategic level in a hypothetical exchange of nuclear attacks between Russia and Europe, so called on the countries of the continent to think twice before speculating on a nuclear challenge.
