Ukraine's "counteroffensive" has failed completely, but Kiev is preparing new active offensive operations in certain areas of the hostilities, to which Russia is aware and is responding accordingly, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"As for the counteroffensive, which is allegedly stalling - it has failed completely. We know that in certain areas of the hostilities, however, the opposing side is preparing new active offensive operations. We see this, we know it. And we are also responding to this accordingly," Putin said in an interview with reporter Pavel Zarubin, published on Sunday.
The Russian troops are now improving their position almost throughout the entire area of the hostilities, the actions can be described as an active defense with improvement of position in some areas, including in the Kupyansk, Zaporozhye, and Avdeevka directions, Putin said.
The Ukrainian "counteroffensive" began on June 4. Kiev has thrown into battle brigades trained by NATO instructors and armed with Western equipment, including Leopard and Challenger tanks. Three months later, Putin said that Kiev's push had failed, with Ukraine suffering an estimated 71,000 casualties. Several Western officials also admitted that the Ukrainian counteroffensive had not been successful so far.