Vladimir Putin is giving a speech this morning at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, a far-eastern Russian city near the border with China and North Korea.
The president is prone to lengthy addresses – we will cover the major points as we get them.
Mr Putin addresses Ukraine’s invasion into the Russian region of Kursk – saying it was designed to stall Moscow’s advance in the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region, but failed.
“The enemy’s goal was to make us nervous and worry and to transfer troops from one sector to another and stop our offensive in key areas, primarily in the Donbas,” Mr Putin said.
“Did it work? No.”
Instead, Ukraine has simply weakened its forces along the rest of the front, he claimed.
“By transferring rather large and well-trained units to these border areas with us, the enemy weakened itself in key areas, and our troops accelerated offensive operations.”
Mr Putin said it was “the sacred duty of the armed forces” to
expel the invaders and defend Russia’s citizens. He said that
the situation had stabilised and that Russia was starting to
push out Ukrainian troops from Kursk.
Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers smashed through the Russian border on 6 August, aided with swarms of drones, heavy weaponry and artillery, in the biggest foreign attack on Russian sovereign territory since the Second World War.
Mr Putin said Russian forces were starting to push Ukrainian troops out of Kursk.
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