Russia plans to establish a buffer zone on Ukrainian territory

(Patria) - Vladimir Putin, who secured a new presidential term in an election without alternatives, stated that Moscow will not back down in its invasion of Ukraine.

He said that Russia plans to establish a buffer zone on Ukrainian territory along the border with that country to protect itself from Ukrainian strikes and cross-border attacks, reports VOA.

The Russian army has advanced on the battlefield as Ukrainian troops face a shortage of ammunition and depleted manpower. The front line stretches for more than 1,000 kilometers across eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian advances have been hampered, and its troops have increasingly used artillery, targeting facilities such as oil refineries and fuel depots in Russia. Also, groups claiming to oppose Russia, deployed in Ukrainian territory, have carried out cross-border incursions.

Putin said on Sunday that the Russian army is gaining the upper hand on the battlefield in Ukraine, claiming that it would be necessary for Russian forces to create a buffer zone on the Ukrainian side of the border to prevent attacks on Russian territory.

His comments followed Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that "everything Russia is doing in the occupied territory of Ukraine is a crime".

- There must be just retribution for all that Russian killers have done in this war and for Putin's lifelong power - Zelensky said in his nightly address.