Russia will “achieve its goals” in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday during a Kremlin-organized meeting with mothers of Russian soldiers and servicemen that was broadcast on state television, AFP reported.

Putin lashed out at “enemies in the field of intelligence” who, in his opinion, are trying to “depreciate and discredit” the Russian offensive in Ukraine. “We must achieve our goals and we will achieve them,” Putin said.

“There is no doubt about the future and success of the special military operation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov assured on Wednesday at the conclusion of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit held in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

Russian state media released video footage of Russian President Vladimir Putin meeting with the mothers of Russian soldiers involved in the war in Ukraine to reassure women who have lost or are at risk of losing children or husbands in the Russia-initiated conflict.

Instead, “Ukrainian Pravda” reports that the women who attended the meeting with Putin are actually representatives of pro-government structures.

Thus, the one who would report to Putin about the army’s problems would be Olga Beltseva, a member of the “United Russia” party and the deputy director of the sports center in Moscow.

Another interlocutor of the president was Yulia Belekhova, head of the Moscow Regional Executive Committee of the pro-government movement All-Russian People’s Front (ONF).

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