At the plenary session of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Vladimir Putin once again spoke about his understanding of the war in Ukraine. «I have said many times that I consider the Russian and Ukrainian people to be one people. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours».
«Your army is advancing beyond the four regions that Moscow considers its own. What is the ultimate outcome you see? How far can your army go?» — asked Nadim Koteish, CEO of Sky News Arabia from the UAE. «We have a saying: where the Russian soldier's foot steps, it's ours», — continued Putin. He also stated that Russia «has never questioned the Ukrainian people's right to independence», but in the 1991 Constitution, Ukraine is declared as a non-aligned and non-nuclear state. He explained the advancement of the Russian Armed Forces as «the logic of military actions».
«We do not have the task to take Sumy, but I do not rule it out. They [the Ukrainian Armed Forces] intruded into our Kursk region, committed crimes. We drove them out. And now we are forced to create a security zone along the border», — Putin responded to the question about the advance on Sumy.