Photo: DMITRY ASTAKHOV / Getty Images
The situation in the four Ukrainian regions annexed to Russia will be stabilized, Vladimir Putin promised.
The Russian president announced the annexation of Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson last week after holding referendums in those regions that were not recognized by the international community.
Putin’s statements came at the time that Ukraine announced that it had regained control of populations in Lugansk and Kherson.
Ukrainian troops control part of the other two regions and have made recent gains in Donetsk.
However, the Kremlin spokesman , Dimitri Peskov, said that Russia will retake any lost territory.
When asked about the recent losses suffered by the Russian army, Peskov said: “There is no contradiction here. They will be part of Russia forever, they will be retaken”.
In a speech to teachers on Teachers’ Day in Russia, Putin said he will “calmly develop” the annexed territories.
But Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma, told state media that Russia needs stop lying about what is happening on the battlefield, and added that the Russians are not stupid.
Ukrainian advances
Ukrainian forces they are achieving victories both in the south and in the east.
Serhiy Haidai, the Ukrainian governor of Lugansk, told the BBC on Wednesday that six towns in the region had been recaptured.
And the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, later added that his army liberated three other villages from the southern region of Kherson.
This comes after a series of victories at Kherson the day before, including the recapture of the strategic town of Davydiv Brid.
Russia is still working on the mobilization of reservists, after Putin will announce the recruitment of some 10,000 people who have completed compulsory military service.
But Putin has backtracked on the groups that will be affected, after strong opposition arose within Russia to the decision.
The Russian president signed a decree that exempts several categories of students, including is first-time students in official institutions and certain types of postgraduate students, such as science students.
Concern about the nuclear plant
Putin also signed a decree formalizing Russia’s seizure of the Zaporizhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, which has been occupied by Russian troops since the first days of the war.
Russia says the plant – Europe’s largest nuclear facility – will be run by a new company, but Ukraine’s nuclear operator dismissed the move as “futile”.
Rafael Grossi, director of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, said he will hold consultations with both sides following this announcement.
Grossi will go to Kyiv and then to Moscow, in an attempt to reach an agreement to establish a protection zone around the plant, which is located near the front.
Reports of battles in the vicinity of the nuclear plant sparked international concern, and the last of the reactors was shut down last month.
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