New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that he has “no regrets” over the missile attacks on civilian targets across Ukraine earlier this week, as reported by CNN. He also said that there was no need for more “massive” strikes for now.
The missile attacks on cities in Ukraine started on Monday in response to a blast on a bridge that connects the annexed Crimean Peninsula to Russia over the weekend. It is still unclear what caused the explosion, but Putin on Monday termed it a “terrorist attack” and blamed it on Kyiv, as reported by CNN. He also said that this attack could not be left unanswered.
The intense bombarding killed at least 19 people, the agency reported. It also levelled civilian targets across the country which drew global outrage. The strikes also forced people to reduce power consumption due to significant damage to power systems across Ukraine.
Putin called Russia’s actions correct and he also said that he did not regret the strikes. Although he did recognize that “what is happening now is unpleasant,” AFP quoted Putin as saying.
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Defending his partial mobilisation that began in September, Putin told reporters that it is expected to end in two weeks and around 2,22,000 troops have already been drafted into the army. The mobilisation sparked protests throughout the country. In order to avoid conscription, hundreds of thousands of people fled Russia and went to neighbouring countries like Georgia and Kazakhstan.
Putin, who travelled to had travelled to Astana Kazakhstan for a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States, an intergovernmental organization made up of former Soviet states also said that Russia is not seeking to “destroy” Ukraine, the allegations of which were imposed by the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Western leaders previously.