Putin says no plans to capture Ukraine’s city of Kharkiv ‘at the moment’

MOSCOW (AA) : Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that combat operations in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region are aimed at establishing a “sanitary zone” – a buffer area from which Ukrainian strikes cannot reach Russian territory.

There are no plans to capture Kharkiv, the administrative center of northeastern Ukraine, “at the moment,” Putin said at a press conference in the Chinese city of Kharbin, which was streamed on the Kremlin website.

“As for what is happening in the Kharkiv direction, this is also their fault (Ukrainian authorities), because they have been shelling residential areas of border territories, including Belgorod. Well, civilians are dying there. It’s still obvious.

“They strike right at the center of the city, at residential areas. And I have said publicly that if this continues, we will have to establish a safety zone… a sanitary zone. That’s what we’re doing,” he stressed.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the combat situation in the Kharkiv region as “extremely difficult” and met with his military chiefs to discuss possible actions.