Putin says he wants buffer zone in Kharkiv but denies wanting to capture city
Speaking to ITV News Correspondent John Ray, Kharkiv's mayor says he can't trust Vladimir Putin's insistence on a buffer zone around his city as Russian troops continue to make advances
Vladimir Putin has said he aims to create a buffer zone in the region surrounding Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, but claims he has no plans to capture the city.
His claim doesn't wash with Kharkiv's mayor, Ihor Terekhov, who has seen fighting in his area intensify as Russian troops make daily advances. He tells ITV News that he does not believe Putin's words - only his deeds.
Putin's statement, made during a visit to China, was his first on the offensive launched on May 10, which opened a new front and displaced thousands of Ukrainians within days.
Earlier on Friday, a massive Ukrainian drone attack on the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula cut off power in the city of Sevastopol, after an earlier attack damaged aircraft and fuel storage at an airbase.
In southern Russia, Russian authorities said a refinery was also set ablaze. Moscow launched attacks in the Kharkiv region in response to Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s Belgorod region, Putin told reporters while visiting the Chinese city of Harbin.
“I have said publicly that if it continues, we will be forced to create a security zone, a sanitary zone,” he said. “That's what we are doing.”
Russian troops were “advancing daily according to plan," he said and added there were no plans for now to take the city of Kharkiv.
Ukrainian troops are fighting to halt Russian advances in the Kharkiv region that began late last week. In an effort to increase troop numbers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed two laws Friday, allowing prisoners to join the army and increasing fines for draft dodgers fivefold. The controversial mobilisation law goes into effect on Saturday.
Russia enlisted prisoners early on in the war, and personnel shortages compelled the new measures. The legislation allows for “parole from serving a sentence and further enlistment for military service" for a specific period for some people charged with criminal offences. It doesn't extend to those convicted of crimes against Ukraine’s national security.
Penalties will be increased to 25,500 hryvnias (£510) for citizens and 51,000 hryvnias (£1,020) for civil servants and legal entities for ignoring draft notices or failing to update the draft board of their information. Fines were previously 5100 hryvnias (£100) and 8500 hryvnias (£170), respectively.
Ukrainian authorities have evacuated around 8,000 civilians from the recent flashpoint town of Vovchansk, three miles from the Russian border. The Russian army’s usual tactic is to reduce towns and villages to ruins with aerial strikes before troops move in.
At least two people were killed and 19 were wounded in the Russian bombing of Kharkiv, regional chief Oleh Syniehubov said on his Telegram posting on Friday. Four of the wounded were in critical condition.
In the Kharkiv region, Russian forces have advanced 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border, Zelenskyy said on Friday.
Separately, speaking about Ukraine’s upcoming peace conferences in Switzerland next month, Putin said it was a vain attempt to enforce terms of a peaceful settlement on Russia and stressed that Moscow wasn’t invited to the meeting.
He said that Russia was ready for talks but shrugged off Zelenskyy’s peace formula as wishful thinking. Any prospective peace talks should be based on a draft deal negotiated by Russia and Ukraine during their Istanbul talks in 2022, he said.
Ukraine meanwhile carried out drone raids on Crimea in an attempt to strike back during Moscow's offensive in northeastern Ukraine.
An unnamed Ukrainian intelligence official confirmed that the country's intelligence services struck Russia’s military infrastructure sites in Novorossiysk, on the Black Sea coast, and in Russian-occupied city of Sevastopol.
The operation, carried out by Ukraine-built drones, targeted Russian Black Sea Fleet vessels, the official said.
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To know...