While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asserts that Ukraine will not abandon any of its inhabitants to Russian occupation, Russian President Vladimir Putin says he does not rule out the possibility that the battle in Ukraine could become a “protracted process.”
The most recent information on the ongoing Russian assault, Kiev’s counteroffensive, Western military assistance, the international response, and the fate of civilians is provided in RFE/live RL’s briefing. To view all of RFE/coverage RL’s of the war, click here.
On December 7, the two presidents addressed a number of human rights organizations.
Speaking during a live broadcast of his Human Rights Council, Putin said that the “special military operation” may last for a very long time, citing the acquisition of a portion of the Ukrainian territory as a key accomplishment.
Putin reiterated his allegation that he was forced to send soldiers to Ukraine and vowed to “constantly fight for our interests” and “to safeguard us by any means possible.”
Putin called the new territory “a tremendous result for Russia,” saying that the Sea of Azov “has become Russia’s inland sea” and recalling the battles Tsar Peter the Great had to wage to get there.
During a nearly three-month siege of the city, Russia finally took control of the Sea of Azov port of Mariupol in May. Although though Russian forces did not have complete authority over Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk in September, Putin nonetheless illegally seized the four Ukrainian territories. In 2014, Russia forcibly invaded the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine.
Ukraine has been successful in regaining several areas, including the city of Kherson and the entire right bank of the Kherson region, after Russian forces withdrew last month.
Zelenskyy, speaking at the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Foundation, said Ukrainian forces have liberated 1,888 settlements from Russian occupation so far in the fighting.
The war had become a war of survival, he said.
“Hundreds of our towns and villages were simply burned down by Russian strikes,” he said. “We have already managed to free 1,888 settlements from occupation. But almost as many Ukrainian towns and villages remain occupied. And that means that the fate of millions of people is now being decided on the battlefield in Ukraine.”
