Moscow: A defiant and stubborn Vladimir Putin is in no mood to call off military operations in Ukraine that has been going on for 10 days.
But the Russian President seems to be feeling the pinch of Western sanctions, which he said were similar to a declaration of war.
Not one to take a step back, he even warned that if any nation imposes a no-fly zone in Ukraine, it would be considered ‘participation in the armed conflict’.
Putin reiterated that his invasion of Ukraine is aimed to defend Russian-speaking communities through ‘demilitarisation and de-Nazification’ of his neighbouring country so that it became neutral.
The US, powerful European nations and Ukraine are hardly convinced by his claim and have imposed a sweeping range of sanctions aimed at isolating Moscow.
“These sanctions that are being imposed are akin to a declaration of war, but thank God it has not come to that,” Putin said while speaking to a group of women flight attendants at an Aeroflot training centre near Moscow.
He said made it clear that no third party should impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine as that could lead to a major war.
NATO has turned down Ukraine’s request for a no-fly zone pointing out that could lead to an escalation of the war beyond the eastern European nation.
Putin said everything is going as planned.
“There is not one conscript and we don’t plan for there to be. Our army will fulfil all the tasks. I don’t doubt that at all. Everything is going to plan,” he said.
