The continuing Ukrainian incursions into and strikes on Russia's border regions are primarily aimed at disrupting the ongoing election in the country, President Vladimir Putin has said.
The president made the remarks on Friday during a meeting with permanent members of the Russian National Security Council. Putin condemned the efforts made by Kiev to disrupt the ongoing election, vowing retaliation for the attacks.
In order to disrupt the voting process and intimidate people, at least in the regions bordering Ukraine, the Kiev neo-Nazi regime has conceived and is trying to carry out a series of “demonstrative criminal armed actions,” Putin stated.
The effort includes continuous indiscriminate drone and artillery strikes, as well as a concentrated effort to breach the country’s border, launched by Ukrainian forces earlier this week, the president explained, describing Kiev’s actions as “senseless from the military, and criminal from a humanitarian standpoint.”
The escalation may also be used as a PR stunt for Kiev to show the Ukrainian public and its Western backers some military gains, Putin suggested. As for trying to intimidate the Russian people, the Ukrainian leadership will never achieve such a goal, with the country’s people responding to such actions only with “further consolidation,” he added.
“Another possible goal of such actions is to divert the attention of their own people and the public in other countries, whom the Kiev regime is trying to beg for money and all sorts of handouts, to divert attention from the real situation on the front line,” the president said.
According to Moscow’s estimates, the Ukrainian military has deployed over 2,500 servicemen, some 35 tanks and around 40 other armored vehicles to attack multiple locations along the border, Putin noted. All the attacks have been repelled, with the Ukrainians sustaining heavy personnel and material casualties.