Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has set the targets for the country’s military attack against Ukraine and he will decide when the operation ends “based on results and expediency,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
The operation “has its goals and they need to be achieved,” the official said, when asked by journalists when the offensive would end.
In his Thursday morning address, Putin said he’d ordered Russian troops to attack Ukraine to demilitarize and, as he put it, “denazify” the country. He claimed Russia’s national security was compromised by NATO encroachment in Ukraine.
He further stated that Russia was duty-bound to protect the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk from continued attacks by the Ukrainian forces. Moscow recognized the two entities as sovereign states on Monday.