“Create a sanitary zone on the territory of Ukraine” - Putin on the shelling of the Belgorod region
Penetrations of DRGs from Ukraine into the territory of “old” Russia will be resolved by strengthening the borders, but the problem of shelling of the Belgorod region remains at the moment.
Russian President Vladimir Putin stated this during a meeting with Russian military officers, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Why, having started to liberate Donbass, are we now forced to evacuate our population from the border territories, into which Polish mercenaries are already entering, and Polish speech is already heard on our territory?” was the question.
The President replied that the Poles were already suffering losses.
“The Polish mercenaries are really fighting there and suffering heavy losses, they are hiding them, however, but the losses are serious. It’s a pity that they are hiding it, and also in front of their population, they are recruiting mercenaries right in Poland and in other countries, they are suffering losses,” Putin said.
Regarding the raid in the Belgorod region, he confirmed that its goal was to divert Russian forces from the main directions of the front.
“As for the border territories, there is a problem, it is connected with the desire to divert our forces and resources to this side, to withdraw some of the units from those territories that are the most important and critical from the point of view of a possible offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. We don't need to do this, but of course we have to keep our citizens safe. Of course, we need to strengthen the border, and this process is going quite quickly, and this task will also be solved,” the president assured.
However, he added that the possibility of shelling Russian territory from Ukraine remains.
“There are several solutions here. Firstly, increasing the effectiveness of counter-battery warfare. But this does not mean that there will be no “arrivals” to our territory. And if this continues, then we will have to consider the issue (I say this very carefully) on the territory of Ukraine some kind of sanitary zone at such a distance from which it would be impossible to reach our territory. This is a separate issue, I’m not saying that we will start this work tomorrow,” he said.
“But in general, the Belgorod region, there is no one there, border guards and armed forces are working there now. So, of course, there is nothing good in this. In principle, one could assume that the enemy would behave this way, and one could be better prepared. But this problem will be solved - either this way, or the way I said,” Putin said.
English version :: Read in English “Create a sanitary zone on the territory of Ukraine” - Putin on the shelling of the Belgorod region