President Vladimir Putin has a rambling explanation for Ukraine’s recent invasion of Russia, according to reports.
After pushing through the Russian border in a surprise offensive last week, Ukraine now claims to control 386 square miles (1,000 square km) of the Kursk region, according to Associated Press news agency.
Reports from Moscow say more than 8,000 Russians have been evacuated, and more than 6,000 put into temporary accommodation centres.
More than two years after he invaded Ukraine and took 18% of its land, this is a humiliating turn of events for Putin.
So, in a meeting with his national security council on Monday, the president explained how Moscow planned to deal with the offensive.
He said: “The main task, of course, is for the defence ministry to squeeze out, to knock out the enemy from our territories.
“The enemy will certainly receive a worthy response, and all the goals facing us will, without a doubt, be achieved.”
He then claimed that it all came down to giving Ukraine the upper hand in potential peace negotiations.
According to Russian state news agency TASS, Putin said: “It is now clear why the Kyiv regime refused our proposals to return to the plan for peaceful settlement.
“The enemy, with the help of its Western masters – it is doing their bidding, and the West is waging war against us using Ukrainians – ... seeks to improve its negotiating position in the future.”
It’s worth noting that the US, Ukraine’s largest ally, claimed not to be aware of the offensive in advance.
Putin then cast doubt on future peace talks, saying: “But what kind of negotiations can we even talk about with people who indiscriminately strike civilians, civilian infrastructure or try to create threats to nuclear power facilities?
“What can we even talk about with them?”
Ukraine has not revealed the exact purpose of the offensive, yet.
According to The Guardian, Putin also claimed Russia’s armed forces are moving forward along the” entire line of contact”.
However, he warned his officials it would get worse before it gets better.
“The enemy will continue to try to destabilise the situation in the border zone, in order to shake up the internal political situation in our country,” the president said, according to Reuters.
“Therefore, if today the Bryansk region is relatively calm, that does not mean that the same situation will remain there tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign intelligence services claimed Zelenskyy is taking “insane” steps which could escalate the war beyond Ukraine.
But in his nightly address, the Ukrainian president seemed confident in his decision to breach Russia’s borders.
He said: “It is only fair to destroy Russian terrorists where they are, where they launch their strikes from.
“Russian military airfields, Russian logistics.
“We see how useful this can be for bringing peace closer. Russia must be forced into peace if Putin wants to continue waging war so badly.
“Russia brought war to others, and now it is coming home.”
Ukraine’s top military commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said in a video posted on Monday: “The troops are fulfilling their tasks. Fighting continues actually along the entire front line. The situation is under our control.”
Away from this new frontline in Russia, worries around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in occupied Ukraine continue after a cooling tower was damaged on site.
As the largest of its kind in Europe, the power plant has been a source of major concern since the war began in 2022, in case it got caught in the crossfire.
It has not produced any power in more than two years and all six reactors are in cold shutdown.
Still, the nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, was quick to respond when a fire was reported there at the weekend.
It has not yet uncovered the cause, but Russia has blamed a Ukrainian drone attack, and Ukraine has blamed Russia’s negligence – or accused its troops of arson.