Vladimir Putin’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine and the Security of the Continuum after the Crimean Fortress Reaction: “We Will Not Take It Away”
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Wednesday that his “special military operation” in Ukraine is taking longer than expected but said it has succeeded in seizing new territory and added that his country’s nuclear weapons are deterring escalation of the conflict.
More than 9 months have passed since the war began with Russia’s invasion and tens of thousands have been killed and wounded. He vowed again and again to fight for his interests and to protect ourselves using all means available. He said that the West failed to respond to Russia’s demands for security due to “only spit in the face.”
During a meeting with members of his Human Rights Council in Russia, Putin said that the land gains have been a major result for Russia. In one of his frequent historic references to a Russian leader he admires, he added that “Peter the Great fought to get access” to that body of water.
After failing to take Kyiv due to fierce Ukrainian resistance, Russia seized broad swaths of southern Ukraine at the start of the invasion and captured the key Sea of Azov port of Mariupol in May after a nearly three-month siege. In September, Putin illegally annexed four Ukrainian regions even though his forces didn’t completely control them: Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south, and Donetsk and Luhansk in the east. He annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
In response to an increasing influx of advanced Western weapons, economic, political and humanitarian aid to Kyiv and what he saw as Western leaders’ inflammatory statements, Putin has periodically hinted at his potential use of nuclear weapons. When a member of the Human Rights Council asked him Wednesday to pledge that Russia would not be the first to use such weapons, Putin demurred. He said Russia would not be able to use nuclear weapons at all if it agreed not to use them first and then came under a nuclear strike.
“If it doesn’t use it first under any circumstances, it means that it won’t be the second to use it, either, because the possibility of using it in case of a nuclear strike on our territory will be sharply limited,” he said.
“We haven’t gone mad. We are fully aware of what nuclear weapons are,” Putin said. He said they are more advanced and state-of-the-art than other nuclear power has.
Russian leaders didn’t address Russia’s battlefield setbacks or its attempt to control the seized regions, but they did acknowledge difficulties with supplies, wounded soldiers and limited desertions.
Russian troops have left the area around the country’s largest city, as well as a large part of the Kherson region. There are air force bases inside Russia that have been attacked this week. He put most of the country on security alert recently, and there were new signs that Russian officials are fortifying border defensive positions.
In the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, the governor posted photos of new concrete anti-tank barriers — known as “dragon’s teeth” — in open fields. On Tuesday, the governor had said a fire broke out at an airport in the region after a drone strike. In neighboring Belgorod, workers were expanding anti-tank barriers and officials were organizing “self-defense units.” Russia’s air defense systems have shot down incoming rockets in Belgorod after it was apparently attacked from across theborder, according to the governor.
Two strategic Russian air bases were struck by drones on Monday, more than 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Moscow blamed Ukraine, which didn’t claim responsibility.
Moscow responded with strikes by artillery, multiple rocket launchers, missiles, tanks and mortars at residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, worsening damage to the power grid. Private Ukrainian power utility Ukrenergo said temperatures in eastern areas where it was making repairs had dropped to as low as minus 17 degrees Celsius (near zero Fahrenheit).
At his meeting, Putin discussed the mobilization of 300,000 reservists that he ordered in September to bolster forces in Ukraine. He said only about 150,000 have been deployed so far to combat zones and the rest are still undergoing training. There is no need for the Defense Ministry or the country to prepare for another deployment, according to Putin.
LONDON — Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that President Vladimir Putin didn’t seem serious about avoiding war in the days before Russia invaded Ukraine — and at one point told the British leader it would be easy to kill him with a missile.
The first three parts of the series were produced by a veteran documentary-maker, and detail how Western leaders dealt with Russia’s president in the lead up to the invasion.
She said Monday that she doesn’t think Putin is making a direct threat, but Johnson should remember that when he is dealing with him.
Asked about Johnson’s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that his account was untrue, “or, more precisely, it was a lie.” Johnson might have lied or not understood what Putin was telling him.
“There were no threats with missiles,” Peskov said on a conference call with reporters. If the U.S., or NATO missiles are deployed in our area, it will mean that any missile that reaches Moscow in minutes.
In the late 20th century, Johnson was one of the most prominent international allies of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Britain remains a major supplier of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.