Putin Confirms Ukraine’s Counter-Offensive, Saying Kiev Forces Failed to Achieve Their Goals

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed today, Friday, that the counter-offensive that Ukraine has been preparing for months began on the front, but that Kiev forces were unable to “achieve their goals.”

“We can absolutely confirm that this offensive has begun,” Putin said, in a video broadcast on Telegram by a correspondent of Russian public television, adding that “Ukrainian forces have not achieved their goals on any of the battlefields, but they still possess offensive capabilities.”

In this regard, Putin said that the Russian military leadership objectively assesses the current events.

The Russian President made it clear that his country does not have enough modern weapons yet, but the military industry is developing and will accomplish all the tasks assigned to it, he said.

For its part, Ukraine says that it has not yet started its counterattack to recover the territories occupied by Russia, stressing that the beginning of the attack will be clear to all.

Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, denied statements by Russian officials that the counterattack had already begun.

“All this is not true,” Danilov said, in an interview with Reuters. “When this matter begins, it will be decided by our army. When we start the counterattack, everyone will know it and they will see it.”

He added that the Russian officials were right when they believed that the Ukrainian advance in some areas of the front lines was the beginning of the major operation.