MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Wednesday it would press on with its military offensive in Ukraine and rejected US President Donald Trump's claim that Kyiv's army could retake territory it had seized. Moscow also pushed back on Trump's characterisation of Russia as a "paper tiger", a day after the US president dismissed Russia's army and said he could see Ukraine winning back every inch of land captured by Russia's forces.
Trump's remarks, delivered after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the United Nations, were a major pivot in his stance on the three-and-a-half-year conflict, which he had at one point boasted he could end within hours. But the Republican has for weeks voiced mounting frustration with Putin for refusing to halt his offensive.
"We are continuing our special military operation to ensure our interests and achieve the goals" set by Putin, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, using Moscow's term for its assault on Ukraine. "We are doing this for both the present and the future of our country. For many generations to come. Therefore, we have no alternative," he added in a radio interview.
Russia launched its all-out offensive on Ukraine in February 2022, when its forces tried to capture the capital Kyiv and Putin publicly called for Zelensky to be toppled. The conflict has since killed tens of thousands of people, devastated much of eastern and southern Ukraine and forced millions to flee their homes.
Trump had on Tuesday dismissed Russia's military prowess and mocked its inability to quickly beat Ukraine. In a post on Truth Social, he said Ukraine may "be able to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that". Russia rejected that notion. "The idea that Ukraine can recapture something is, from our point of view, mistaken," Peskov told reporters.
Russia also bristled at the accusation it was weak. "The phrase 'paper tiger' was used in relation to our economy," Peskov said. "Russia is more associated with a bear. And paper bears don't exist. Russia is a real bear," he added. He did concede, however, that Russia's economy — slowing after two years of rapid growth and with stubborn inflation — was "experiencing tensions and problems".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on world powers on Wednesday to work together to stop Russia's war in his country, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of seeking to expand the fighting beyond Ukraine. He said in a speech to the 193-member United Nations General Assembly that the war had helped unleash the most destructive arms race in history and that Ukraine was moving to open up the export of its weapons to allies.
"The facts are simple, stopping this war ... is cheaper than building underground kindergartens or massive bunkers for critical infrastructure later," he said. He pointed to alleged airspace violations by Russian drones and fighter jets in NATO's Poland and Estonia as evidence that Putin was testing new boundaries in the war in Ukraine. "Now Russian drones are already flying across Europe, and Russian operations are already spreading across countries," he said. "Putin wants to continue this war by expanding it, and no one can feel safe right now."
Zelenskiy said Ukraine had decided to begin exporting its weapons to allies. "You don't need to start this race from scratch. We're ready to share what has already proven itself," he said, referring to defense production. "We are ready to make our modern weapons become your modern security. We have decided to open up arms export. And these are powerful systems tested in a real war when every international institution failed," he said.
Peskov also dismissed claims that Russia breached Nato's airspace as "hysteria", after Trump said the allies should shoot down Russian jets if they violate their territory. Nato countries say multiple Russian fighter jets and drones have violated European member states' airspace in recent weeks, accusing Moscow of testing the alliance's boundaries. With peace progress on Ukraine stalled, Peskov said a broader rapprochement between Moscow and Washington ushered in when Trump returned to the White House in January has yielded "close to zero" results. Zelensky has hailed Trump's apparent change of position as a "big shift", though it is unclear if the US leader will follow through with concrete steps, such as more sanctions on Russia. — Reuters
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
