(Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russian forces are prevailing in what he said was a “righteous battle” in Ukraine.
“Our fighters and commanders go on the attack, and the entire country, all of Russia, is waging this righteous battle and working hard,” Putin said in a video published on the Kremlin’s website.
“Together we are defending our love for the Motherland and the unity of our historical destiny, we are fighting and we are prevailing.”
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, calling it a “special military operation” to demilitarise and de-nazify its neighbour. Kyiv and its allies say the invasion is an unprovoked imperialistic attempt to grab land.
The war has no end in sight despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s diplomatic efforts to bring the conflict to an end, including separate summits with Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other European leaders.
Russia controls nearly 114,500 square km (44,600 square miles), or 19%, of Ukraine, including Crimea, and a major chunk of territory in the east and southeast of the country, according to open source maps of the battlefield.
Trump, reversing his earlier stance, said last week that Ukraine has a chance at regaining territory and Washington said it was considering Kyiv’s request to obtain Tomahawk cruise missiles for strikes deep into Russia.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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