Putin Still Believes in Russian Victory Over Ukraine

Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin says he remains convinced of Moscow's victory in the war against Ukraine.

"There is no doubt about it," he said on Tuesday at a meeting with graduates of a university for public administration, according to the state news agency TASS.

The Russian leader himself had ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

At the time, he cited the protection of the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine and the demilitarization of the neighbouring country as his war aims. In addition, for its own security, Russia had to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, Putin said.

After more than 16 months of war, Russia still occupies large areas of Ukraine but is far from achieving these war aims. After a series of defeats in the war and a recent mercenary uprising at home, Putin has recently been less outspoken about whether he still believes in victory.

The Ukrainian leadership has meanwhile explained the slow progress of the long-announced counteroffensive against the Russian army with the new goal of a war of attrition.

"At this stage of active hostilities, Ukraine’s Defence Forces are fulfilling the number one task: the maximum destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, military vehicles, command posts, artillery and air defence forces of the Russian army," National Security and Defence Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov tweeted on Tuesday.

He added that the more effectively the enemy was destroyed, the more kilometres would be liberated later.

"The last few days have been particularly fruitful," Danilov added.

Earlier, the spokesman for the Tauria front in southern Ukraine, Valeriy Shershen, spoke without elaborating of an advance of some 2 kilometres.

Less than a month ago, the Ukrainian army began a counteroffensive in the south of the country, which has so far fallen short of its own expectations in recapturing occupied territories.

On the ground, a woman and a man died as a result of Russian artillery fire on Kherson in southern Ukraine, the authorities in the region said on Tuesday.

In Sumy in the north-east of the country, the death toll from a Russian drone attack on Monday rose to three. The attack on a residential block injured 21 people. The city authorities declared a day of mourning on Tuesday.

Heavy fighting was continuing in the region around Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, the Ukrainian general staff reported. Russian forces were focusing their attacks on Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Maryinka, they said.

Iranian Shahed drones had been used to attack civil infrastructure in the Sumy and Donetsk regions and in Zaporizhzhya in the south, they said.

Russian efforts were directed at preventing Ukrainian forces from advancing in Zaporizhzhya and Kherson, with more than 30 locations coming under fire.

A suspected drone attack on Moscow was thwarted on Tuesday morning, said the mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin, and state media.

Russian air defences had repelled "another attempted attack by Ukrainian drones," Sobyanin wrote on his Telegram channel.

Russian authorities cited by state media said no one was injured and that four drones were destroyed. One other drone was electronically disabled and landed in Odintsovo to the west of Moscow.

The Defence Ministry blamed Ukraine for the drone strikes and spoke of an "attempted terrorist attack by the Kiev regime."

The Ukrainian government did not immediately comment on the accusation.

For safety reasons, air traffic was diverted from Vnukovo Airport, south-west of Moscow city centre to other airports for about three hours. According to the Russian Aviation Authority, flight operations resumed at 8 am ( 0500 GMT).

Russia has seen a growing number of attacks on its territory, particularly near the border.

Drones have reached Moscow and the surrounding area several times before, including in May when two drones were shot down directly over the Kremlin.

The Russian occupiers in Ukraine are suffering from crucial weaknesses despite partial successes, British military experts said in their daily intelligence report on the war in Ukraine published by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in London on Tuesday.

Russian units are stretched thin and there is a lack of artillery ammunition, the MoD update said.

The Russians have been partly successful in slowing down the Ukrainian counteroffensive in its infancy. This was mainly achieved through the massive use of anti-tank mines, the report said.

"Having slowed the Ukrainian advance, Russia has then attempted to strike Ukrainian armoured vehicles with one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles, attack helicopters and artillery," the MoD report said.

The British MoD has been publishing daily updates on the progress of the Russian war since the full-scale invasion started in February 2022. Moscow accuses London of disinformation.

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