Putin says soldiers in Ukraine 'defending Russia's future'; as CoS visits troops in east Ukraine

Putin says soldiers in Ukraine 'defending Russia's future'; as CoS visits troops in east Ukraine
by AFP Staff Writers
Moscow (AFP) Feb 23, 2025

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday his soldiers in Ukraine are defending "national interests" and vowed "unchanged" determination to strengthen the country's armed forces in a rapidly changing world.

The comments come ahead of the third anniversary of Russia's offensive in Ukraine, which triggered the deadliest armed conflict in Europe since World War II.

"Today, at the risk of their lives and with courage, they are resolutely defending their homeland, national interests and Russia's future," Putin said in a video released by the Kremlin on Russia's Defenders of the Fatherland Day.

"We will continue to improve the combat capabilities of the army and navy, their combat readiness as an essential component of Russia's security (and) guarantee of its present and future sovereignty," he said.

Russia has seen accelerated rapprochement with the United States under President Donald Trump, with whom Putin spoke for an hour and a half by phone on January 12.

Since then, the first Russian-American talks have taken place in Saudi Arabia, with the Kremlin saying it wanted to resume dialogue with Washington "on all parameters".

Putin said on Sunday that he wanted to give his armed forces "new, modern models" of weapons and equipment.

In November 2024, his troops fired a previously unknown experimental hypersonic missile called "Oreshnik" against Ukraine.

Ukraine was attacked by Russia on February 24, 2022, with the Kremlin claiming to be protecting itself against the threat of NATO and preventing the organisation's expansion.

"Today, at the risk of their lives and with courage, they are resolutely defending their homeland, national interests and the future of Russia," Putin said Sunday.

Russian chief of staff visits troops in east Ukraine
Moscow (AFP) Feb 22, 2025 - Russian chief of staff Valery Gerasimov visited troops fighting in east Ukraine as Russian forces advance in the area, the defence ministry said Saturday.

"General Valery Gerasimov ... visited a command post" in the Donetsk region, it said in a statement.

Russia is seeking to win control of Chasiv Yar and Pokrovsk, two important frontline strongholds for the Ukrainian army.

Further to the north, Russia earlier on Saturday claimed the capture of Novolyubivka in the Lugansk region which is now largely under its control.

The Ukrainian army controls just a handful of localities in Lugansk, whose annexation Moscow claimed in 2022, the year it began its full-scale offensive on Ukraine.

Gerasimov's visit to the front comes as Washington and Moscow engage in a rapprochement, targeting a swift end to a conflict which has cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

Russia meanwhile hopes to obtain the lifting of American sanctions which have battered its economy.

But a possible return to the Russian market of American -- and Western -- companies will occur "on a case-by-case basis", Russian Minister of Economic Development, Maxim Reshetnikov, said on Saturday.

"The Russian market has been and remains open," Reshetnikov said as he indicated Moscow wants to maintain a "balance" between "taking into account consumer interests and maintaining market plurality in order to guarantee competition and keep prices under control."

Since 2022 brought an avalanche of Western sanctions, "the Russian economy has changed. Therefore, the requirements of foreign companies regarding location, investments and technologies will be very different," Reshetnikov warned.