Upon return from a regional trip in Belarus, Vladimir Putinmet with his top defence chiefs in Moscow to discuss the state of his armed forces, in the meeting he also touched upon the situation in Ukraine.
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A tragedy
Up to this point, Putin never publicly addressed or commented on the situation in Ukraine by admitting any guilt, regret, or regress.
According to the Independent, in his latest meeting, Putin for the first time described what's happening in Ukraine as a tragedy but certainly didn't blame Russia for this:
We always considered the Ukrainian people as brotherly, and I still think so. What is happening is of course a tragedy, our common tragedy, but it is not a result of our policy.
Instead, Putin claimed the situation is 'the result of the policy of third countries' and referred to their intent to dismantle the 'Russian world' as he has called it:
Who have always striven for this, the disintegration of the Russian world... to a certain extent they succeeded, and pushed us to the line where we are now.
Growing the size of the military, equipment with new weapons
PBS also reports about the intent of Putin to increase the size of his army which at present stands at 1 million servicemen.
Back in September, Putinannounced what turned out to be a highly unpopular mobilisation order for the recruitment of 300,000 volunteers to the armed forces.
Recently, Putin declared that of those, 150,000 men have been sent to boost his troops in Ukraine and the other half are currently undergoing military training in Russia.
With the recent plans unveiled in Putin's latest meeting, the Russian army will grow to 1.5 million active servicemen.
The Russian President also vowed to continue fighting in Ukraine and that ‘his armed forces will be provided anything they ask for, without financial limits’, the Independent reports.
Putinalso confirmed the new hypersonic ‘Sarmat’ missile, dubbed ‘Satan II’, would be soon ready for deployment.
A hypersonic missile travels between 5 and 25 times the speed of sound and is equipped on fighter jets and bombers.
Satan ‘II’ is a new weapon technology which Russia claims is unique and unmatched. It is able to carry nuclear weapon loads.
Sources used:
-Independent: ‘Putin claims ‘Satan II’ hypersonic missile will be ready for deployment soon in speech to military chiefs’
-PBS: ‘Russia’s military set to expand as Putin vows to continue fighting in Ukraine’
