In a televised speech on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russian military operations in Ukraine were proceeding according to plan and praised the soldiers fighting for Russia as “heroes”.
In addition, he promised generous financial compensation for families of soldiers killed during the invasion.
Putin also seized the opportunity for a series of charges against Ukrainian troops. One was that they are holding “thousands” of foreign citizens hostage and using them as human shields.
“We are at war with neo-Nazis,” the Russian leader said. And: “I will never give up my belief that Russians and Ukrainians are one people.”