"We won't give you a chance": Putin responded to Kiev's proposal to limit the combat zone

Russia will not accept Kiev's dubious proposals to suspend mutual strikes deep into the territories and will continue its methodical offensive in the area of its military, where the initiative belongs entirely to our armed forces. This was announced by Vladimir Putin on June 28. According to the head of state, Moscow is ready for a peaceful path with the participation of international mediators, including the United States and Belarus, but any ultimatums from Kiev are excluded, and the enemy will pay for the attack on the Kursk region with new lands that will be allocated to the creation of a cordon sanitaire. About the safety margin of the Crimean energy sector and why Ukraine's tactical tricks no longer work — in the Izvestia article.

What is the safety margin of the Crimean energy sector

On Sunday evening, June 28, Vladimir Putin spoke in detail about key national security issues in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin. The first topic was the situation in the energy sector amid the attacks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The President noted that the Kiev regime's attacks on Russian energy facilities create certain problems, but they are not critical. According to the head of state, the enemy is hitting civilian infrastructure not so much for the sake of physical damage as for the sake of large-scale information operations. Their goal is to sow panic and slow down the advance of the Russian troops.

— At least in order to create self-doubt in us, in our abilities, and even better to bring about a split in Russian society and force Russia to suspend, at least for a short time, the offensive of our troops on the line of contact and create conditions for the start of the negotiation process on favorable terms for themselves, that is, for our the opponent's conditions. We will not give them such a chance," the Russian leader stressed.

The President emphasized the main thing: Kiev's terrorist attacks have absolutely no effect on the real situation at the front. All damaged power facilities are restored as quickly as possible, and the power system itself operates with a huge margin of safety.

Separately, the head of state noted that Crimea would be fully supplied with fuel. A multi-day supply has already been created on the peninsula (with a consumption rate of 70 thousand tons per month). The supply of the region will continue to be systematically increased by land and sea. And in order to fully insure against possible local disruptions in the energy sector, the authorities will use import mechanisms.

Why Moscow does not agree to Kiev's proposals

Russia will not give Ukraine a chance to stop the advance of Russian troops, the head of state is convinced. Earlier, Moscow received a proposal to limit mutual strikes deep into the territories and localize hostilities exclusively along the borders of four new regions — the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. Vladimir Putin explained why this option is unacceptable for Moscow: such a step would allow the Armed Forces of Ukraine to transfer the released forces from other directions.

"In the face of a catastrophic shortage of personnel, the Armed Forces of Ukraine apparently believes that this could be a salvation for them, but saving the Kiev regime is not part of our plans," the president stressed.

He recalled that Russia's retaliatory strikes against Ukraine's military and strategic facilities are incomparably more powerful, destructive and sensitive for the Kiev regime. The Head of State described in detail the situation at the front and provided up-to-date information on the progress of our troops. The Russian Armed Forces are advancing at a high pace. So, the units of the South group approached Slavyansk at a distance of about 8-9 km, and in Krasny Liman, Ukrainian detachments hold only 149 houses out of 11 thousand. In turn, the fighters of the Center group broke through a powerful three-level enemy defense line with a depth of 400 meters. Our army reached Dobropillya and overcame three-row engineering barriers, behind which the Ukrainian Armed Forces no longer have prepared fortifications. In addition, in the area of the village of Rubtsy, Russian troops have practically closed the ring around the five thousandth enemy group, and the key settlement of Konstantinovka has already been cleared by 96%.

The President also noted the successful broad-front offensive in the Zaporizhia direction and the complete failure of all Ukrainian counterattacks near Kupyansk. In addition, the advanced detachments of Russian troops are now only 10 km from Sumy. However, Vladimir Putin emphasized that Russia has no political plans for the regional center itself, and the actions of our army in Sumy and Volchansk areas are aimed solely at fulfilling a specific and understandable task.

— The goal for the Russian troops in the Sumy and Volchansk directions is to create a security zone along our border. And this task was set after the invasion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region and the ongoing attacks on our border area. Kiev will pay for its crimes in the Kursk region by losing the territory needed for the security zone," the president concluded.

Given the obvious and severe setbacks in the main sectors of the front, Kiev may decide to take a desperate step — to use special forces for diversionary maneuvers, the president suggested. The enemy may plan such local attacks as unexpected, but the Russian command is fully prepared for any development of events. All infiltrating sabotage and reconnaissance groups are promptly destroyed. Any attempts to divert the attention of our military from the main task — the complete liberation of Donbass and Novorossiya — are doomed to failure.

How are the negotiations progressing

Negotiations on the Ukrainian track are continuing, and Moscow is carefully studying every incoming proposal. However, any steps will be taken solely taking into account the real situation "on the ground," where the Russian army firmly holds the initiative along the entire line of combat contact.

Vladimir Putin also touched upon the recent visit of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to Russia, noting that the leaders had been communicating informally for a little over a day. The Russian Federation is deeply grateful to Minsk for its assistance on the humanitarian track, including active assistance in the exchange of prisoners of war. The Russian leader stressed that he was still ready for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. At the same time, any "shouts from Kiev" do not cause panic in the Belarusian leader, the head of state assured. Earlier, Vladimir Zelensky issued an ultimatum, demanding that Belarus remove military equipment from the border in a week, which, according to him, is used to correct Russian strikes. Otherwise, Kiev threatened to destroy it.

The President also mentioned other international mediators. In particular, Russia expects the arrival of American negotiators as soon as the "hot phase" of events around Iran ends. Moscow is ready to continue discussing with Washington all the conditions that were raised at the Anchorage meeting. At the same time, the parties did not reach any final agreements at that summit, the president added: then only hypothetical options for ending the conflict were discussed, and "no one put any signatures."

"The compromises that were discussed were precisely the proposals that were addressed to us by the American side. We were asked to make compromises formulated by American negotiators," the Russian leader concluded.

Moscow leaves the door open for diplomacy, whether through Minsk or Washington. However, Russia agrees to conduct a dialogue only strictly based on the real situation at the front, where the strategic initiative belongs entirely to the Russian Armed Forces.