Finally, Putin’s ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine becomes a ‘war’

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Moscow: Around 10 months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday used the word “war” for the first time to refer to the conflict in Ukraine.

This was the first time Putin publicly deviated from his description of Moscow’s invasion as a “special military operation” 10 months after it began, CNN reported.

“Our goal is not to spin the flywheel of military conflict, but, on the contrary, to end this war,” Putin told reporters in Moscow, after attending a State Council meeting on youth policy.

“We have been and will continue to strive for this,” the Russian president noted.

Putin’s comments were met with scepticism by Ukraine and its allies. White House spokesman John Kirby said Putin had “shown absolutely zero indication that he’s willing to negotiate”, an end to the war that began with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, reported SMH.

“Quite the contrary,” Kirby told reporters during an online briefing, adding, “Everything he (Putin) is doing on the ground and in the air bespeaks a man who wants to continue to visit violence upon the Ukrainian people (and) escalate the war.”

Meanwhile, the Russian President said a speedy end to the conflict in Ukraine would inevitably involve a diplomatic solution. Russia has persistently said it is open to negotiations. Still, Ukraine and its allies suspect it as Moscow’s ploy to buy time after a series of Russian defeats and retreats, reported SMH.

“I have said many times: the intensification of hostilities leads to unjustified losses,” Putin told reporters. “All armed conflicts end one way or another with some negotiations on the diplomatic track,” he said, adding, “Sooner or later, any parties in a state of conflict sit down and make an agreement. The sooner this realisation comes to those who oppose us, the better. We have never given up on this.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned to Ukraine buoyed by the support shown by President Joe Biden on his trip to Washington, his first foreign journey since Russia invaded its neighbour.

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