“No need for a break”
Putin admits difficult situation in annexed areas
01/11/2023 4:21 p.m
While fierce fighting is raging in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin chief has described the situation in the illegally annexed areas as “difficult”. But Moscow has the means to improve the lives of the people there.
Around ten and a half months after the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the situation in the illegally annexed areas of Ukraine as “difficult”. However, Russia has enough resources to improve the lives of people in these regions, he said in a televised speech.
“Fighting is ongoing in some areas,” Putin added in a meeting with government officials. “But none of this is a reason to take a break and put off the most pressing issues.”
Putin instructed the Russian cabinet to draw up a plan for the development of the Cherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the coming months – for example with a view to infrastructure and social services.
Fierce fighting is currently raging in the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar. The claim by the Russian mercenary group Wagner that they had taken the city in the Donetsk region was dismissed today by both Moscow and Kyiv. Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podoliak called the fighting for Soledar and nearby Bakhmut the “bloody” fighting since the Russian invasion began.
Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine at the end of February last year. In September, Putin annexed Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, and Cherson and Zaporizhia in the south. However, Russia’s armed forces have not taken larger parts of it at all or have already lost it again to the Ukrainians. Together with the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in violation of international law in 2014, Russian troops currently control around 18 percent of Ukrainian territory.