Putin: Russia has no plans to seize Kharkiv

Russia has no plans to capture Kharkiv in its offensive in the north of the country, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who is currently on a visit to China, has said.

"As for Kharkiv, there are no such plans for today," Putin said at a press conference in China. He linked the offensive in Kharkiv region to the creation of a sanitary zone in response to the shelling of Russian regions, primarily Belgorod, by the Ukrainian armed forces.

"And I said publicly that if this continues, we will be forced to create a sanitary security zone. So we are doing it," Putin said. At the same time, he noted that Russian troops are achieving results in this area and are advancing "strictly according to plan" every day.

Putin also said that Russia is trying to understand with whom it can negotiate peace in Ukraine. According to him, the legitimacy of Volodymyr Zelenskyy as president of Ukraine after 20 May, when his term of office officially expires, which he did not extend due to martial law, must be confirmed by the Ukrainian "political system" and the country's Constitutional Court.

"We have to sign documents in such a crucial area with legitimate authorities, this is an obvious fact," Putin said.

At the same time, he said, the Istanbul agreements of April 2022 should serve as the basis for the negotiation process. "We have the document, the signature is there. What additional conditions are there that we have never heard of?" the Russian dictator said.

Russia opened a new front in the Kharkiv region on 10 May. In a few days, Russian troops captured at least eight settlements, approaching and entering Vovchansk from the north. According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the pace of the Russian offensive slowed down significantly during the week of the offensive, and they managed to advance no more than 8 km deep into Ukrainian territory.

On 17 May, Ukrainian Armed Forces chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that the defence line in Kharkiv region had not been breached, but that Russia had expanded the combat zone by almost 70 km and was trying to force Ukrainian forces to use reserve brigades. There will be heavy fighting ahead, Syrsky warned.

Meanwhile, Welt reported that Russia had disrupted peace talks with Ukraine in 2022 over a demand to make Russian the second official language. The parties then reached a consensus on almost all points, but Russia put forward additional conditions.