UKRAINE: Vladimir Putin, Russia’s President, said the situation in four Ukrainian regions that Moscow has annexed as part of its territory was “extremely difficult” as Kiev renewed its request for more weapons following Russian drone strikes on energy sites.
“Yes, it is difficult for you now.” “The situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, is extremely difficult,” he remarked to Russian security forces working in Ukraine on Moscow’s security services day.
In a Kremlin ceremony in September, a defiant Putin moved to annex a portion of Ukraine (about 15% of the nation), but earlier this month, he stated that the war “can be a long process.”
Putin’s annexation of the territory was condemned by Ukraine and its western allies as illegal.
Putin travelled to Belarus for the first time since 2019 on Monday. At a news conference that took place late that night, he and his counterpart praised their growing ties while hardly mentioning Ukraine.
Meanwhile, after Russian kamikaze drones struck energy facilities, Kyiv was looking for more armaments from the West.
In his evening address, President Volodymyr Zelensky remarked, “Weapons, shells, new defence capabilities… everything that will give us the potential to speed up the end of this war.”
The “kamikaze” drones that are used in the attacks are disposable, cheaply made unmanned aircraft that fly toward their target before accelerating downward and exploding on impact.
The Russian president also commanded the bolstering of Moscow’s borders, asked special services to maintain tighter social control, and demanded that people living in Russian-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine, which leaders from around the world had denounced as a “sham referendum” held under duress, are safe.
On the battlefield, a Russian artillery onslaught hit 25 towns and villages near Bakhmut and Avdiivka as well as another northeastern town, Kupiansk.
The war in Ukraine, which Putin refers to as a “special military operation,” is just a few days away from entering its eleventh month, leaving tens of thousands of people dead, millions of refugees, and numerous cities in ruins.
Also Read: Russia Rains Down Missiles in One of Its Biggest Attacks on Ukraine
