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‘I’ve flown in a helicopter when it was shot at with tracer bullets.’ Putin knows danger first-hand, it seems. Here’s what else he said at the meeting with Russian war propagandists.

Source: Meduza

This is a brief summary of Vladimir Putin’s remarks during his June 13 meeting with pro-Kremlin war bloggers and self-styled “war correspondents.” Quotations from the meeting were sourced from Interfax, TASS, RIA Novosti, and RBC. A full transcript of Putin’s remarks is available on the official Kremlin website. Meduza condemns Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and does not condone or agree with Putin’s remarks.

The aims of the special operation change according to the situation, but overall, we’re not going to change anything. For us, they have a fundamental character.

All those gathered here are experienced people who have been under fire. This alters your consciousness. I know this from my own experience — I haven’t been crawling under bullets like you, but I’ve flown in a helicopter when it was shot with tracer bullets.

What is the meaning of our actions? Russia has been disposed towards good relations with its neighbors since the collapse of the USSR, but the West strove to destabilize and dismember Russia, and with Ukraine’s help too, though Russia had fed and supported it for years.

In 2014, we didn’t lay a finger on the Donbas. Our volunteers had been there, but the Russian state had no relation to it whatsoever. We were forced to rise to the defense of these people. We tried to negotiate, but Kyiv ditched us. We’re gradually demilitarizing Ukraine. Kyiv doesn’t produce squat. Ukraine’s defense industry will soon cease to exist.

Starting on June 4, a large-scale Ukrainian counteroffensive has been taking place along several directions, with the use of strategic reserves. The adversary achieved nothing along any of those directions. Russia’s losses are 10 times less than the catastrophic losses of the Ukrainian military. Ukraine has lost 30 percent of the weapons it received, including 160 tanks and 360 armored vehicles. Russia lost 54 tanks, and some of them can be fixed.

Ukraine was eager to have the Kakhovka hydropower plant demolished, deliberately shelling it from HIMARS systems. Russia was definitely not interested in destroying the plant, because of the grave consequences there would be to the areas it controls.

Moscow and other cities will be protected from drone attacks. There is a problem with attacks on the border regions, and this is because there’s a will to divert our forces from other directions. Russia is fortifying its borders. If the strikes continue, Moscow will consider setting up a “cordon sanitaire” in Ukraine.

There’s no sense in declaring martial law across Russia. There’s presently no need for another wave of mobilization. Russia will continue dealing selective strikes on targets in Ukraine, instead of pummeling residential districts. There’s the rule of law in Russia, unlike in Ukraine.