Situation in 4 annexed Ukrainian regions ‘extremely difficult’: Vladimir Putin

Kyiv, December 20

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said the situation in four areas of Ukraine that Moscow had unilaterally declared part of Russia was proving “extremely difficult”, one of his clearest public admissions yet that his invasion is not going to plan.

He also called for an increase in surveillance in his comments to mark Security Services Day in Russia on Tuesday.

Hope belarus won’t take part in war: Kyiv

Russia can prepare an attack force in Belarus to launch a new offensive on Ukraine, but I hope Minsk’s troops will not take part in the war. I think it’s not in the interests of the leadership of Belarus to waste its military potential. So I have hope that they will continue holding this balance. Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine Defence Minister

These followed a visit to close ally Belarus that fuelled fears, dismissed by the Kremlin, that the country could help Russia open a new invasion front against Ukraine.

Kyiv renewed calls for more weapons after Russian drones hit energy targets in a third air strike on power facilities in six days.

Putin ordered the Federal Security Services (FSB) to step up surveillance of Russian society and the country’s borders to combat the “emergence of new threats” from abroad and traitors at home. Western countries have imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia and the rouble slumped to an over seven-month low against the dollar on Tuesday after the European Union agreed to cap prices of gas, a major Russian export.

In a rare admission of the invasion of Ukraine not going smoothly, Putin cautioned about the difficult situation in regions of Ukraine that Moscow moved to annex in September and ordered the FSB to ensure the “safety” of people living there.

“The situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions is extremely difficult,” Putin said in a video address to security workers translated by Reuters.

In September, Putin sought to regain the initiative after a series of battlefield defeats by declaring that four partially occupied regions in Ukraine’s east and south had joined Russia.

Kyiv and its Western allies said the move was illegal.

On Monday, Putin made his first visit to Belarus since 2019, where he and his counterpart extolled ever-closer ties at a news conference but hardly mentioned Ukraine. On Tuesday, Russian news agencies reported that Belarus had reached an understanding with Moscow on the restructuring of its debt and had agreed on a fixed price for Russian gas for three years.

Kyiv, meanwhile, was seeking more weapons from the West after weeks of attacks on energy facilities which have knocked out both power and water supplies amid freezing temperatures. — Reuters

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