“This is one of his strongest speeches since Russia invaded Ukraine”judge Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty (RFE-RL). Thursday, July 7, Vladimir Putin spoke from the Kremlin to the heads of Russian parliamentary groups, taking advantage of the opportunity to mock and threaten Westerners.
“Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. What can I say ? Let them try! ”he said, according to CNN. “We hear all the time that the West is willing to fight us as long as there is a Ukrainian standing”he added. “It is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but we are on the way to it”. And to assert: “Everyone should know that we have not started serious things” in Ukraine.
The Russian president also slipped that he was not opposed to “peace negotiations”but warned that “those who refuse them must know that more [le conflit durera]the more difficult it will be for them to negotiate with us”.
For the BBCle “reasoning” by Putin “offers a glimpse of what Moscow’s overall strategy might be” : play the watch because “the longer the war drags on, the weaker Ukraine will be in negotiating”.
“Crude propaganda”
Adviser to the Ukrainian Presidency Mykhaylo Podolyak, quoted by RFE-RLreplied to Putin and claiming that there was no “map of the West” targeting Russia. The only plan at work is that of the Russian army, “who entered a sovereign Ukraine to bomb towns and kill civilians. The rest is just crude propaganda”.
The statements of the Russian president come as the bombardments have further intensified in the Donbass, a mining basin partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, and which Moscow is seeking at all costs to wrest from Ukraine. Proof that Putin’s threats are to be taken seriously, observes the New York Times.
“While Russian forces are already pounding towns and villages in Donetsk with their deadly rocket attacks and airstrikes, military experts believe that these offensives are only the prelude to a much larger assault”writes the American daily.
Despite a very difficult situation on the ground, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Thursday “’very significant’ blows inflicted on Russian troops by the Ukrainian army, thanks to the help of artillery provided by Western countries”reports The country.
In fact, for AxiosWestern military aid will remain essential in the coming months: “the rate at which new weapons and troops are integrated into the fighting will be critical for Ukraine, if it is to stem its territorial losses and launch a possible counter-offensive later in the summer”.