Vladimir Putin has told the Russian people the Ukraine war is a “matter of life and death” that could determine their country’s fate as his forces rain shells on cities in the east of the country.
Despite triggering the war by launching an invasion of its neighbour in February 2022, the Kremlin has repeatedly presented the conflict as a fight for Russia’s survival, in a bid to encourage patriotic sentiment among the Russian population.
In an interview with Russian state TV, Putin said: “I think it is still important for us ourselves, and even more so for our listeners and viewers abroad, to understand our way of thinking.
“Everything that is happening on the Ukraine front: for them it is an improvement of their tactical position, but for us it is our fate, it is a matter of life and death.”
The Russian president also addressed questions about his bombshell two-hour long interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, in which Putin gave a lengthy monologue on Russian history and questioned Ukraine’s legitimacy as a state, sparking fury from Ukraine and its Western allies.
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He said: “For the Western listener, the viewer, it was not easy. Even more so for Americans.
“The history of the United States is 300-odd years, and I started in 862. So I think it was not easy for American audiences to understand.”
Putin’s comments came as Russian forces shelled and fired missiles down on a number of cities in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, leaving at least three people dead, with others buried under the rubble of shattered buildings, according to Ukrainian officials.
Kramatorsk and Slovyansk, close to the front line in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, were struck with shells, with the city council in Kramatorsk saying on Telegram that a missile had killed two people when it struck a section of the town used for industry and individual houses.
Rescuers were searching through the rubble for another person thought to have been trapped beneath it, MailOnline reports.
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Kramatorsk has seen one of the war’s most deadly attacks, including a missile strike on its train station in April 2022 in which 63 people were killed.
According to reports, Russian shelling on Saturday also hit a school in nearby Slovyansk, as rescuers desperately looked for at least one person trapped by the debris.
Further north, one person was killed when Russian shells struck a two-storey house in the town of Kupiansk, the governor of Kharkiv region said.
These reports have not been independently verified, but come from areas of the country that come under frequent Russian assault.
The Kremlin insists its forces do not deliberately target civilian sites.
