Kremlin says the only way to protect Russia is to create a buffer zone with Ukraine
Item
1 of 2 A view shows a heavily damaged shopping centre hit by a missile
strike, what local authorities called a Ukrainian military attack, in
the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Belgorod, Russia, February 15,
2024. REUTERS/Stringer/files
[1/2]A
view shows a heavily damaged shopping centre hit by a missile strike,
what local authorities called a Ukrainian military attack, in the course
of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Belgorod, Russia, February 15, 2024.
MOSCOW,
March 18 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday that the only way to
protect Russian territory from Ukrainian attacks was to create a buffer
zone that would put Russian regions beyond the range of Ukrainian fire.
The
Kremlin was commenting after President Vladimir Putin raised the
possibility of setting up such a zone in a speech after winning
re-election on Sunday.
In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:
"Against
the backdrop of (Ukrainian) drone attacks and the shelling of our
territory: public facilities, residential buildings, measures must be
taken to secure these territories.
"They
can only be secured by creating some kind of buffer zone so that any
means that the enemy uses to strike us are out of range."
After winning re-election, Putin said he did not rule out setting up such a buffer zone.
"I
do not exclude that, bearing in mind the tragic events taking place
today, that we will be forced at some point, when we deem it
appropriate, to create a certain 'sanitary zone' in the territories
today under the Kyiv regime," Putin said.
Putin
declined to give any further details, but said such a zone might have
to be big enough to stop foreign-made weapons striking Russian
territory.
He
made the remark after being asked whether he thought it necessary for
Russia to take Ukraine's Kharkiv region, which borders Belgorod, a
Russian province that has come under regular attack from Kyiv's forces
since 2022.
Russian
forces initially tried to seize Kharkiv region in February 2022, but
were routed from most of the area in a Ukrainian counteroffensive in
September that year.
Russian
in September 2022 said it had annexed the four Ukrainian regions of
Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, even though it did not fully
control any of them.
The
Ukrainian leadership has said that Russia's annexation is illegal and
that it will not rest until every last Russian soldier is expelled from
Ukrainian soil.
Reporting by Reuters
Writing by Felix Light
Editing by Andrew Osborn