Putin slams ‘western elites’ amid huge threat as Moscow hikes defense budget
Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed why he sent troops into Ukraine as Moscow gives its defense budget a massive hike. Follow for updates.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed that Moscow would accomplish all goals it has set for itself in Ukraine, in its third year of conflict.
“The truth is on our side. All goals set will be achieved,” Putin said in a video message released to mark the second anniversary of what Russia calls “Reunification Day”, when Moscow annexed four Ukrainian regions.
After it sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Russia annexed the regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. It does not fully control all territory in these regions.
In his address, Putin repeated his justification for sending troops into Ukraine as protecting Russian speakers against a “neo-Nazi dictatorship” that aimed to “cut them off forever from Russia, their historic homeland”.
He also slammed “Western elites” who “turned Ukraine into their colony, a military base aimed at Russia” and who fanned “hate, radical nationalism... hostility to everything Russian”.
“Today we are fighting for a secure, prosperous future for our children and grandchildren”, he said.
It comes as Russia plans to boost its defence budget by almost 30 percent next year as it diverts resources to its Ukraine offensive, spending more on the military than welfare and education combined.
The latest planned increase in spending will take Russia’s defence budget to 13.5 trillion rubles (A$210 billion) in 2025, a document published on the parliamentary website showed, up from 10.4 trillion in 2024.
Combined spending on defence and security will account for around 40 percent of Russia’s total government spending.
Planned spending on “national defence” is more than twice that allocated to areas Moscow labels as “social policy”.
It comes as more than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russia, sparking a wildfire and setting an apartment block alight in one of the largest barrages seen over Russian skies since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Some of the drones were targeting a major weapons depot inside Russia, as Ukraine stepped up it’s attacks further inside the country.
“Defence forces struck the Kotluban military depot” in the Volgograd region, hundreds of kilometres from the Ukrainian border, a day after a shipment of Iranian weapons reportedly arrived at the site, Ukraine’s military general staff wrote on Telegram on Sunday (local time).
“A fire and ammunition detonation were observed on the depot’s territory,” said the post, adding that the facility was being used for storage and the modernisation of missiles and artillery.
Russia did not confirm the strike, reporting only that it had destroyed 67 drones overnight over the Volgograd region.
But a Ukrainian defence sector source told media that 120 drones had flown more than 600 kilometres to target the depot.
“As a result of the hit, ammunition and missile storage sites were damaged, which will lead to a shortage of ammunition for units of Russia’s occupation army,” the source said.
Another 18 drones were reported over Russia’s Rostov region, where falling debris sparked a wildfire, said Gov. Vasily Golubev.
He said that the fire did not pose a threat to populated areas, but that emergency services were fighting to extinguish the blaze, which had engulfed 20 hectares of forest.
Elsewhere, 16 civilians were injured in an overnight barrage on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia after Ukrainian military leaders warned that Moscow could be preparing for a new military offensive in the country’s south.
The city was targeted by Russian guide bombs in 10 separate attacks that damaged a high-rise building and several residential homes, regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov wrote on his official Telegram channel. More people could still be trapped beneath the rubble, he said.
It comes as Denmark announced it was providing 1.3 billion kroner ($194 million) to help Ukraine bolster its under-pressure arsenal against Russia’s invasion.
The support would go towards arms and equipment produced in Ukraine but financed by Danish money and frozen Russian assets.
“Wars are not only won on the battlefield, but also in industry,” Trade and Industry Minister Morten Bodskov said in a statement.
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TRUMP’S HIGH STAKES MEETING WITH ZELENSKYY
Donald Trump vowed to end Russia’s war in Ukraine “very quickly” if he becomes president, as he held high-stakes talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
It comes a day after Mr Zelenskyy met Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden to secure a massive $US8 billion military aid package for Ukraine’s defence against Vladimir Putin.
Mr Trump, who this week accused Mr Zelenskyy of refusing to “make a deal”, vowed to bring peace if he wins a second term.
“It’s a shame but this is a war that should have never happened and we’ll get it solved,” Mr Trump said at Trump Tower. “It is a complicated puzzle … Too many people dead. Too many beautiful cities.”
Before the meeting — which lasted less than an hour — Mr Trump hailed his alliance with Zelenskyy, but added: “I also have a very good relationship — as you know — with President Putin.”
Mr Zelenskyy interjected: “I hope we have more good relations.”
“Oh, I see,” Trump responded. “But it takes two to tango, you know. And we’re going to have a good meeting today. And I think the fact that we’re even together today is a very good sign.”
Mr Zelenskyy, asked why he was meeting Mr Trump, said they have a “common view”.
“That the war in Ukraine has to be stopped, and Putin can’t win, and Ukraine has to prevail,” Mr Zelenskyy added.
The meeting almost never happened after Zelenskyy campaigned for Ms Harris in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.
He also told New Yorker magazine that Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the war” and that his running mate J.D. Vance is “too radical.”
Mr Trump, who has refused to say whether he wants Ukraine to defeat Russia, hit back at during a campaign rally, berating Mr Zelenskyy as “a man who refuses to make a deal”.
Mr Zelenskyy, in New York for the UN General Assembly, presented a so-called “victory” plan at the White House.
House Republicans have launched investigations into Mr Zelenskyy’s Pennsylvania trip, suggesting it amounted to election interference, and calling for the Ukrainian ambassador in Washington to be fired.
HARRIS SLAMS TRUMP
Kamala Harris criticised her US election rival Donald Trump’s “surrender” policy on Ukraine, while the Republican said he would meet Ukraine’s president despite a bitter row over the war with Russia.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented a so-called “victory” plan to President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris at the White House, with Mr Biden announcing a new military aid package worth nearly $US8bn ($A11.6bn) for a struggling Kyiv.
Standing with Mr Zelenskyy at her side, Ms Harris did not mention Mr Trump by name but said there were “some in my country who would instead force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory.”
“These proposals are the same of those of (President Vladimir) Putin. And let us be clear, they are not proposals for peace. Instead, they are proposals for surrender,” she said, referring to the Russian leader.
During a separate meeting in the Oval Office with Mr Zelenskyy, Mr Biden pledged that “Russia will not prevail” in the war it launched in February 2022.
“Ukraine will prevail, and we’ll continue to stand by you every step of the way,” Mr Biden said.
Dressed in his trademark military-style outfit, Mr Zelenskyy replied that “we deeply appreciate that Ukraine and America have stood side-by-side.”
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