putin: With a grin, Russia President Vladimir Putin warns Ukraine: the war can get more serious

President Vladimir Putin on Friday dismissed a lightning Ukrainian counter-offensive with a smile however warned that Russia would reply extra forcefully if its troops have been put beneath additional strain.

Talking after a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation within the Uzbek metropolis of Samarkand, Putin forged the invasion as a needed step to forestall what he mentioned was a Western plot to interrupt Russia aside.

Moscow, he mentioned, was in no hurry in Ukraine. And its objectives remained unchanged.

“The Kiev authorities introduced that they’ve launched and are conducting an lively counter-offensive operation. Properly, let’s have a look at the way it develops, the way it finally ends up,” Putin mentioned with a smile.

It was his first public touch upon a rout of his forces in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv area per week in the past that has prompted unusually robust public criticism from Russian navy commentators.

Russia hit Ukrainian infrastructure in response – together with a reservoir dam and electrical energy provides – and Putin mentioned these assaults might worsen.

“Just lately, the Russian armed forces have inflicted a few delicate blows. Let’s assume they seem to be a warning. If the state of affairs continues to develop like this, then the response might be extra critical,” he mentioned.

Putin additionally mentioned Russia was regularly taking management of latest areas of Ukraine.

Requested if what he calls the “particular navy operation” wanted correction, he mentioned: “The plan shouldn’t be topic to adjustment.”

“The Common Workers considers one factor vital, one other factor secondary – however the primary process stays unchanged, and it’s being applied,” Putin mentioned. “The primary aim is the liberation of all the territory of Donbas.”

The Donbas contains two largely Russian-speaking provinces of jap Ukraine – Luhansk, which is now totally beneath the management of Russian and Russian-backed separatist forces, and Donetsk, which they partially management.

Nevertheless, Russia now occupies round a fifth of Ukraine in all, together with a lot of the southerly Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces, along with Crimea, which it seized in 2014 and considers a part of Russia.