‘The public reaction is very emotional,’ says Russian press secretary about war in Ukraine
Dmitry Peskov, press secretary to the Russian president, said that although not all Russians are happy with how the situation in the war zone in Ukraine is developing, the majority, like before, support the president.
“Public opinion is so sensitive to what happens with the special operation, it makes sense that the public reaction is very, very emotional,” said Peskov, responding to journalists’ questions about criticism of the Russian retreat on Telegram.
Still, he said, Russians support the president. According to Peskov, that support is confirmed by “the mood of the people, their actions, their participation in elections, and the choices made by those who voted,” as well as by “statistical data.”
When asked about the relationship between criticism of Russian troops and new legislation which makes it illegal to “discredit Russian armed forces,” Peskov said:
As for other, critical viewpoints, as long as they remain within the framework of the current laws, it’s pluralism. But the line is very, very thin. In this matter we must be very accurate.
At the end of August Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an offensive in the Kherson region, and in the Kharkiv region in the beginning of September. The Kharkiv offensive has been the most successful since the beginning of the war. On September 12, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that since the beginning of the month UAF had liberated 6,000 square kilometers (around 2,300 square miles) of Ukrainian territory.