Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the speed with which his troops are occupying new territories in neighbouring Ukraine on Monday.
During an appearance in front of schoolchildren, he said that Ukraine’s attempt to halt the advance of Russian troops in the Donbass with its counterattack in the Kursk region had been in vain.
“We are not talking about advancing 200 or 300 metres,” Putin said, according to Russian news agencies. “We haven’t had this kind of pace in the offensive in Donbass for a long time.”
Putin stopped off in the Siberian republic of Tuva on his way to Mongolia, to give a lesson in the new subject introduced after the start of the war, “Conversations about the important things.” The lessons, laden with propaganda, are intended to familiarize children with the Kremlin’s political course.
Putin repeated the claim that the war he ordered was in defence of his own country. “We are protecting both the people living in the Donbass and the future of Russia, because we cannot afford to have hostile structures created under our noses that are harbouring aggressive plans against our country,” he said. Putin was apparently alluding to Kiev’s hopes of joining NATO.
Putin called the Ukrainian soldiers involved in the counterattack on the Kursk region “bandits” with whom Russia must settle accounts.
The Ukrainian troops still have the initiative in the Kursk region, partly because Russia has refrained from withdrawing soldiers from the main attack area in Donetsk to repel the attack.
