Despite the heavy defeat of his army in the Kharkiv region, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced new attacks on the territory of eastern Ukraine, writes Tagesspiegel.

“Our offensive actions in Donbas have not stopped, they are advancing at a slow pace,” Putin said at a press conference following the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan in Central Asia on Friday evening. “The Russian army is conquering new and new territories,” Putin said.

Under the pressure of Ukrainian counteroffensives, the Russian armed forces almost completely withdrew from the eastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine at the end of last week.

Now, in the Uzbek Samarkand, Putin himself commented on the enemy’s successes for the first time. “The leadership of Kyiv announced that it has started and is conducting an active counteroffensive,” he said. “Now let’s see how everything will develop and how it will end.”

The head of the Kremlin also accused Ukraine of attempting attacks on Russian nuclear power plants – and threatened: “If in the end they do not understand that such methods are unacceptable, there will be a response.”

While, according to him, there were counterattacks in the form of warnings, yes, if the situation does not change, the response will be “tougher”.

“Special operation is not regulated”

Asked if what he calls a “special military operation” needs to be adjusted, he said: “The plan is not subject to adjustment.”

“In the General Staff, one thing is considered important, the other secondary – but the main task remains unchanged and is being carried out,” Putin said. “The main goal is the liberation of the entire territory of Donbas.”

Donbas consists of two predominantly Russian-speaking regions in eastern Ukraine – Luhansk, which is now fully controlled by Russia- and Kremlin-backed separatist forces, and Donetsk, which it controls partially.

However, Russia now occupies about a fifth of Ukraine as a whole, including most of the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions in the south, in addition to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014 and considers part of Russia.

Ukrainian troops are continuing a counteroffensive operation in eastern Ukraine, increasing pressure on Russian positions and lines of logistical support in eastern Kharkiv Oblast, northern Luhansk and eastern Donetsk Oblasts, according to the latest assessment of the Institute for the Study of War.

According to Russian sources, the Russians will be forced to withdraw from eastern Ukraine after Ukrainian forces continue their counteroffensive southwest of the city of Izyum, near the Liman and on the east bank of the Oskil River, but pushing the Ukrainian army too far east could make it difficult to hold their defensive lines, according to the American think tank.

• Putin cannot achieve his goals in Ukraine – the head of US military intelligence