Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday criticized Ukraine’s roughly month-long offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, saying Kiev had failed to achieve its goals and done nothing to stop the Russian military.
The Ukrainian military’s plan was to alarm Russia and stop the Russian advance in the Donbass, Putin said.
“Has the opponent succeeded in this? No, he has achieved nothing,” Putin said at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
Instead, he said, there are now more Russian conquests in the Donetsk region than in a long time, because Ukrainian officials prefer to have their better-trained units fighting in Kursk rather than in their own country.
Russian society has been consolidated and there are more and more volunteers for service at the front, he said.
Russian forces have begun pushing the Ukrainian army out of the border area in the Kursk region, the president said.
“We must especially think of the people who are going through great trials and suffering from these terrorist attacks,” he said, adding that the situation has generally stabilised.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky justified the offensive, which began on August 6, by saying he wanted to increase pressure on Russia to negotiate.
Zelensky called the invasion of about 10,000 soldiers a success, after they took control of dozens of villages and hundreds of square kilometers.
The Ukrainian leader added that many Russian prisoners of war have been taken for a possible new exchange.
Putin speaks of willingness to negotiate
Shortly after the Kursk offensive, the Russian leadership was quite negative about the chances of a negotiated settlement. In Vladivostok, however, Putin reaffirmed his willingness to negotiate on the basis of the agreements reached in Istanbul between delegations from Moscow and Kiev shortly after the start of the war in February 2022.
The terms set during the negotiations, first reported this year, included Ukraine abandoning its pursuit of NATO membership in exchange for a ceasefire.
There was no agreement, partly because Ukraine did not believe there would be security guarantees if the deal were signed. Moreover, the preliminary agreement still called for Ukraine to give up some of its territory.
Meanwhile, Russia has attacked Ukraine on the ground with 78 Iranian combat drones, the Ukrainian air force reported Thursday, destroying 60 of them.
Another 15 were blown off course by electronic warfare systems, while two drones “returned” to Russia and one flew into Belarusian airspace, the air force reported on Telegram.
An Iskander missile was also fired from the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula, the report said. There were no reports of damage or casualties from the strike.
An air raid warning was in effect in Kiev for 9 hours a night due to the constant threat of drones. Anti-aircraft fire was also heard briefly over the city of 3 million. Authorities said there was no damage.
