Uzbekistan: Russia President Putin gives news conference in Samarkand
SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to press his attack against Ukraine despite its latest counteroffensive. Speaking to reporters Friday after attending a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan, Putin said the “liberation” of Ukraine’s entire eastern Donbas region remained Russia’s main military goal and that there was no need to revise it. Putin says “we aren’t in a rush,” adding that Russia has only deployed volunteer soldiers to fight in Ukraine. Asked about the Ukrainian counteroffensive that forced Russian forces to withdraw from large swaths of northeastern Ukraine last week, Putin replied: “Let’s how it develops and how it ends.”
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