Ukrainian counter-offensive is a “failure”, says Putin

Moscow, Sep 4 (EFE).- Russian President Vladimir Putin called the three-month Ukrainian counteroffensive a “failure” on Monday after meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“As for the stalling of the counter-offensive (of Ukrainian troops – TASS), it is not a stalling, it is a failure,” said Putin during the joint press conference.

The Russian leader has played down the significance of the counteroffensive, which has seen the Ukrainian army regain several hundred square kilometers of territory since it began on June 4 last year.

“I”In any case, this is how it looks as of today,” he remarked. “We’ll see what happens next. I hope it will continue to be like this,” Putin added.

Putin has estimated that Kyiv has suffered tens of thousands of casualties in its attempt to regain territory, mainly on the southern front in order to break the corridor linking the Donbass with the annexed Crimean peninsula.

In turn, the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu stressed on Sunday the Russian army destroyed eleven Ukrainian tanks and seven water drones during the last week.

Meanwhile, the outgoing Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Oleksí Réznikov, assured that Kyiv had liberated more than 50% of the territory occupied by Russia during the first phase of the conflict. EFE

mos/ar