Putin vows to continue Russia’s attack on Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to launch an attack on Ukraine, despite the country’s recent counteroffensive.

He also warned that Moscow could step up its crackdown on critical Ukrainian infrastructure if Ukrainian forces target Russian installations.

Putin told reporters after attending a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, that “liberating” Ukraine’s entire eastern Donbas region remains Russia’s main military objective and that he sees no need to revise it.

“We’re not in a hurry,” the Russian leader said, adding that Moscow has only deployed volunteer soldiers to fight in Ukraine.

Some hardline politicians and military bloggers have urged the Kremlin to follow Ukraine’s lead in ordering a broad mobilization to strengthen its military, lamenting Russia’s manpower shortage.

Russia was last week forced to withdraw its troops from large swathes of northeastern Ukraine following a swift Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Ukraine’s move to take back control of several Russian-occupied cities and villages marks Moscow’s biggest military setback as its forces had to withdraw from areas near the capital early in the war.

“Let’s see how it develops and how it ends,” Putin said in his first comments on Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

He noted that Ukraine had attempted to attack Russian civilian infrastructure and “so far we have exercised restraint.”

“If the situation develops like this, our response will be more severe,” the Russian leader added.

“Just recently, the Russian armed forces have carried out several influential attacks,” he said, apparently referring to Russia’s attacks on power plants and a dam in northern Ukraine earlier this week
in the South.

“Let’s treat these as warning strikes.”

Putin said Ukraine tried to carry out attacks “near our nuclear installations and nuclear power plants,” without giving specifics, adding that “if they do not understand that this method is unacceptable, we will retaliate.”

Russia has reported multiple explosions and fires at civilian infrastructure, ammunition depots and other facilities in the vicinity of Ukraine. Ukraine has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, but has not commented on others.

Putin has also sought to assuage India’s concerns about the conflict in Ukraine, telling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the SCO summit that Moscow wants to end the fighting as soon as possible. He also claimed that Ukrainian officials refused to negotiate.

“I know your position on the conflict in Ukraine and the concerns you have expressed repeatedly,” the Russian leader told Mr Modi.

“We will do everything in our power to end this situation as soon as possible. Regrettably, the Ukrainian leader on the other side rejected the negotiation process and expressed a desire to achieve its goals on the battlefield through military means.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia allegedly did not want to negotiate seriously. He also insisted on the withdrawal of Russian troops from occupied Ukraine as a precondition for the talks.

Putin’s remarks during talks with Modi echoed comments made by the Russian leader during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, when Putin thanked his government for its “balanced stance” on the war in Ukraine, while adding that he was ready to discuss China’s unspecified “concerns about Ukraine”.

Putin told reporters on Friday that he and Xi “discussed what we should do under current conditions to effectively counter the illegal restrictions imposed by the West.”

The European Union, the United States and other Western countries have imposed sanctions on Russian energy due to the war in Ukraine.

In a statement released by his government, Xi expressed support for Russia’s “core interests” but also expressed interest in jointly “injecting stability” into world affairs.

China’s relations with Washington, Europe, Japan and India have been strained by technological, security, human rights and territorial disputes.

Zhang Lihua, an international relations expert at Tsinghua University, said the stability was “mainly related to Sino-US relations,” adding that “the US has been suppressing China with various means, which has forced China to seek cooperation with Russia.”

China and India have refused to join Western sanctions on Russia’s Ukraine war, while increasing purchases of Russian oil and gas to help Moscow offset financial restrictions imposed by the United States and its allies.

Putin also met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss strengthening economic cooperation and regional issues, including the July agreement brokered by Turkey and the United Nations that allows Ukraine to restore grain from the country’s Black Sea ports Export.

At the SCO summit on Friday, Xi warned his Central Asian neighbors not to let outsiders destabilize them.

The warning reflects Beijing’s concern that Western support for democracy and human rights activists is a conspiracy to undermine Xi Jinping’s ruling Communist Party and other authoritarian governments.

“We should prevent external forces from inciting color revolutions,” Xi said in a speech to leaders of SCO member states, referring to protests that overthrew unpopular regimes in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East.

Xi has proposed training 2,000 police officers, establishing a regional counter-terrorism training center and “strengthening law enforcement capacity building.”

His comments echoed Russia’s longstanding dissatisfaction with color-coded democratic uprisings in several former Soviet countries, which the Kremlin believes were instigated by the United States and its allies.

Mr. Xi is pushing for a “global security initiative” in response to Beijing’s more assertive foreign policy after the United States, Japan, Australia and India formed a group of four.

U.S. officials have complained that this echoes Russia’s arguments for supporting Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.

Central Asia is part of China’s multi-billion-dollar “One Belt, One Road” initiative, which aims to build ports, railroads and other infrastructure along the arc of dozens of countries in the South Pacific, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa to expand trade.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is formed by Russia and China to counter U.S. influence.

The group also includes India, Pakistan and four former Soviet Central Asian countries Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Iran is expected to gain full membership.