Russia news ( Europe Brief News): President Putin says Russian troops are establishing a “security buffer zone” along the Ukraine border, escalating tensions amid ongoing military operations.
Heorhii Tykhyi, a spokesman for the Ukrainian foreign ministry, called the plan “aggressive” and showed that Russia is the obstacle of peace efforts now.
“I have already said that a decision was made to create the necessary security buffer zone along the border. Our armed forces are currently solving this problem. Enemy firing points are being actively suppressed, the work is underway,”
Putin said.
Ahead of Friday’s anticipated prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine, which resulted from last week’s in-person negotiations in Turkey—the first direct talks at any level between the two nations in three years—the statement was made on Thursday.
When visiting Russia’s Kursk area in March, the Russian president had already brought up the idea of establishing a “buffer zone.”
In a meeting with government officials on Thursday, he reaffirmed his commitment to the border plan, emphasizing the need to “restore and rebuild everything that was destroyed” in the border region.
“(We must) help people return to their native villages, settlements, (and) where security conditions allow, restore all transport and other infrastructure,”
Putin added.
According to Russian official media on Thursday, the Russian leader intends to hold a special meeting to talk about the “restoration” initiatives.
According to state media on Wednesday, Putin made the declaration days after making his first trip to Russia’s Kursk region since declaring that he had fully retaken the area from Ukrainian forces.
The acting governor of the area reported on Thursday that a Ukrainian strike on the town of Lgov in Kursk had injured twelve residents, including two children. An initial examination of the “massive” attack revealed that it also destroyed one apartment complex, two houses, and four cars, the official said.
According to a new report released Wednesday by the US-based conflict monitor Institute for the Study of War, the Russian leader spoke with local officials about the new buffer zone while in the area.
According to the story, a local official urged Putin to establish a buffer zone in the Sumy region. Putin then inquired as to how deep the zone should be, in kilometers.
According to the news agency RIA Novosti, Putin also claimed during his visit that Ukrainian forces were attempting to advance toward the Russian border.
In the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign state since World War II, Kyiv began its drive into the Russian border territory in August of last year. Up until the end of last month, it controlled a portion of the area. In any peace negotiations, Kyiv had planned to use it as a major negotiating chip.
Only last week, when representatives from Kyiv and Moscow met in person in Turkey to start talking about ending the war and decided on a 1,000-person prisoner swap from each side, did such a dialogue come to fruition.
According to Russian official media, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced Thursday that Russia had received Ukraine’s suggested list of POWs to be traded in the anticipated swap on Friday.
“Yes, indeed, we have received it now,”
Peskov was reported as saying when asked about the Ukrainian list.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X Thursday that Ukraine is “clarifying the details for each individual included on the lists submitted by the Russian side.”
“The agreement to release 1,000 of our people from Russian captivity was perhaps the only tangible result of the meeting in Türkiye. We are working to ensure that this result is achieved,”
Zelensky posted.
What is the purpose of the buffer zone along the Russia-Ukraine border?
According to President Vladimir Putin, the buffer zone along the Russia-Ukraine border is intended to provide a security buffer zone that fortifies Russia’s border defenses by squelching Ukrainian fire sites and averting attacks on Russian territory.
Protect Russian border areas including Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk from drone attacks, artillery bombardment, and Ukrainian military incursions.
Removing Ukrainian forces from the border will limit their capacity to conduct surveillance, conduct raids, or use long-range weapons to bombard Russian border towns.
In the impacted border regions, restore and reconstruct infrastructure to assist local business and agriculture while enabling the safe return of inhabitants to their home communities.
By creating a controlled area devoid of hostile forces, you can improve border security generally and stabilize the area under Russian authority.
