MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the Kremlin´s military campaign in Ukraine might have become a “lengthy process” but praised Moscow´s territorial gains.
“Of course, it might be a lengthy process,” Putin told a meeting of the Kremlin´s human rights council, which was once a solid organisation but lost its credibility after critical voices were silenced or exiled. The February offensive meant to bring a quick victory for Moscow has proven difficult for the Russian army, which faced a series of setbacks including the retreat from Kherson, the only regional capital it seized.
Putin added however that the new Ukrainian territory the Kremlin claims to have annexed was a “significant result” of the military campaign. “The Azov Sea has become an internal sea to the Russian Federation, that´s a serious thing,” he noted.
He was also referring to the four regions -- Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson -- that Russia claims to have annexed but never fully controlled. To boost the faltering offensive, Putin called a partial mobilisation in September.
On Wednesday, Putin said that half the Russians called up for military service in September have been deployed to Ukraine. “Out of 300,000 of our mobilised fighters, our men, defenders of the fatherland, 150,000 are in the area of operations,” he said.
Veteran cricket journalist Sharda Ugra said the sport is used as a vehicle for a muscular nationalism
The UAE saw record rainfall with 254 mm falling in less than 24 hours in Al Ain, a city on the UAE-Oman border
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese singled Guerot out for praise on Tuesday
The bill passed a vote in Britain’s parliament with 383 in favour and 67 against
The Supreme Court has previously refused to accept two formal apologies from Ramdev and his firm’s co-founder...
