OMM Newsroom
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia’s efforts to establish a “security zone” along its border with Ukraine would not be part of peace negotiations with Kyiv.
Speaking to military commanders during a visit to a command post, Putin recalled that Russian troops were tasked with driving Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region after their incursion in August 2024 and creating a security zone.
“Our goal is to ensure the absolute security of Russia’s border territories for the future, and we do not intend to make this a subject of potential peace negotiations with Ukraine,” Putin said, wearing a military uniform.
He told the commanders that the task was being “successfully accomplished” and pointed to strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial facilities and logistics centres.
“In response to strikes by the Kyiv authorities against our industrial and fuel-and-energy facilities, the Russian Armed Forces continue to carry out strikes on enterprises of the military-industrial complex, as well as on infrastructure facilities in Ukraine,” Putin said.
Putin said it was essential to continue “massive, coordinated” strikes on those facilities.
Separately, Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian General Staff, briefed Putin on the front line and said Moscow had begun “massive” strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
“A list of these facilities has been established, along with the necessary complement of assets required to strike them,” Gerasimov said.
Putin ordered the creation of a “security buffer zone” along the border with Ukraine last May, after Russian forces pushed Ukrainian troops out of Kursk.
