He praised the troops in a selfie video filmed in front of a sign on the road outside Sloviansk near the town of Bakhmut, which Russian forces have been trying to encircle for weeks in one of the bloodiest operations of the war. In other videos, he presented medals and shook hands with soldiers in the hangar.
Kirill Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency, said Moscow has enough missiles left before they are depleted.
resistance
Russia claims a military justification for attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure. Kyiv says the attacks are aimed at hurting civilians, which is a war crime.
“They don’t understand one thing – such missile strikes increase our resistance,” said Reznikov, Defense Minister of Ukraine.
There are no ongoing political talks to end the war. Moscow insists it will not negotiate unless Kyiv and the West acknowledge its sovereignty over Ukrainian lands, while Kyiv says Russia must give up all of its territory.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that talks would be possible only if Russia achieved the goals of its “special military operation”, which he did not define.
“Russia must and will achieve the goals it has set,” he said, adding, “As for the prospects for any kind of negotiations, we do not see them at the moment, we have repeatedly Said so.”
However, the sides have discussed issues such as the exchange of prisoners. A Russian-established official said the latest such exchange would see each side free 60 prisoners later on Tuesday.