Putin says war in Ukraine could turn into a long-term process

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Putin says war in Ukraine could turn into a long-term process

Vladimir Putin admitted that Russia's war in Ukraine could turn into a long-term process as he tried to defend an invasion in which Russian troops have been forced to retreat and even airbases deep inside Russia have come under attack.

Putin spoke to members of his personal human rights council on Wednesday, and claimed that Russia would not use nuclear weapons first in any conflict, denied that Russian troops were deserting en masse from the field of battle, and claimed that he would not need to mobilise more troops, a process that has caused considerable upheaval in Russia.

The Russian president defended the special military operation as his preferred term for what he admits was a Russian war of conquest that he compared with the territorial ambitions of former Russian tsars.

Putin said that it can be a long-term process as for the slow process of the special military operation. You mentioned that new territories had appeared. This is a significant result for Russia The Azov Sea has become an internal Russian Sea. Even Peter I had fought for access to the Azov Sea. Russia has had to abandon some of the annexed territories, notably fleeing the city of Kherson last month due to a sweeping Ukrainian counterattack. Russia now shells Kherson's city from the other side of the Dnipro River, in effect attacking what it considers its own territory.

The foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has defended that tactic last week by saying the Russians had also shelled Stalingrad during the Second World War.

Putin said on Wednesday that his administration was not planning for a new round of mass mobilisation. He claimed that of 300,000 Russians, just half had been sent into the conflict zone, while the others were still at training ranges.

In these conditions, talk about additional mobilisation proceedings doesn't make sense. He said that the defence ministries and the state don't need this at present. The previous round of mobilisation, announced in mid-September, had been preceded by official denials as well.

Putin said that the Russian army had suffered from mass desertions in Ukraine that were fuelled by poor conditions and low morale. Reports from independent Russian media about secret prison camps in Russian-occupied Donbas, where dozens of soldiers who refused to fight were held in abysmal conditions.

Are there guys who deserted their combat posts? He said it happened less and less now. I repeat, once again, that desertions of such nature have a mass character. Putin said that he was more likely to have a war because of the conflict with the west, which is why he said that it was growing more likely that there would be a war with the west.

Putin said in response to a question that Russia would not use those weapons first, that threat is increasing and that is why we can't deny it.

We are aware of what nuclear weapons are and we have not gone crazy. We have these means, and they are more advanced and more modern than those of any other nuclear country. This is an obvious fact as of today.

We are not going to wave these weapons around like a razor, running around the world, but of course we act with the understanding that they exist.