Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that there will be a “prolonged” conflict in Ukraine and that Russia will fight to protect its interests by all available means, but does not foresee a new mobilization of reservists.

“Of course, it will be a long process,” Putin said at the annual televised session of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, referring to the conflict in Ukraine, reports Reuters and AFP, citing Agerpres.

At the same time, he ruled out a new mobilization of reservists. “These rumors (..) do not make sense. Currently, neither the state nor the Ministry of Defense needs this,” said the head of the Kremlin, who in September ordered the mobilization of about 300,000 reservists to strengthen Russian troops at the front in Ukraine.

Of these reservists, he clarified in an intervention on Wednesday, about half are still undergoing training, and the other half, about 150,000, are in the combat zone in Ukraine, of the latter, about 77,000 are directly participating in hostilities.

Putin: “We will defend ourselves with all available means”

On the other hand, Putin complained that Western human rights organizations consider Russia “a second-class country that has no right to exist.”

“This is what we are dealing with,” Putin said. “This can only be a response from our side – a consistent struggle for our national interests. We will do exactly that,” he said.

The President of Russia added: “Yes, we will do it in different ways and means. First of all, of course, we will focus on peaceful means, but if there is nothing left, we will defend ourselves with all the means at our disposal,” Reuters noted.

The UN Human Rights Council, the Council of Europe and “other so-called human rights organizations” are demonstrating their “cynical partisanship” after the start of the Russian “military operation” in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin also said, citing the official TASS press agency. He added that the rights of Russian-speaking residents of Donbas (eastern Ukraine) have been ignored by the “so-called international community” for eight years.

Putin spoke in the 10th month of the war in Ukraine, responding to comments by a member of that council who said Ukrainian forces were shelling residential areas in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region.

Ukraine suffered heavy losses among the civilian population during the war. Russia denies targeting civilians, Reuters reminds.

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