- Title: TIMELINE: Putin's key remarks as Ukraine invasion enters 100th day
- Date: 5th May 2022
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - FEBRUARY 24, 2022) (RUSSIAN POOL) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "Everything that is happening is a forced response. They left us no other option. (PAUSE) They've created such security risks that we couldn't react differently." PUTIN SPEAKING Russian President Vladimir Putin met Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan for talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on February 24. Video footage of the meeting was released to the media hours after Russia launched a military operation against Ukraine, announced by President Putin on Russian state television in the early hours of Thursday morning. MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - FEBRUARY 24, 2022) (RUSSIAN POOL) PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER IMRAN KHAN AND RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN SHAKING HANDS AND TAKING SEATS PUTIN SEATED KHAN SEATED Putin ordered his military command on February 27 to put Russia's deterrence forces - a reference to units which include nuclear arms - on high alert, citing aggressive statements by NATO leaders and economic sanctions against Moscow. MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - FEBRUARY 27, 2022) (RUSSIAN POOL) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "Dear colleagues, as you can see, (SHOT CHANGE) not only do Western countries (BACK IN SHOT) take unfriendly measures against our country in the economic dimension - I mean the illegal sanctions that everyone knows about very well - but also the top officials of leading NATO countries allow themselves to make aggressive statements with regards to our country. This is why I'm ordering the defence minister and chief of the general staff to put Russian army deterrence forces on high combat alert." RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER SERGEI SHOIGU (RIGHT) AND CHIEF OF GENERAL STAFF VALERY GERASIMOV SITTING AT TABLE, ANSWERING 'YES, SIR' TO PUTIN Putin said on March 3 that Russia's military operations in Ukraine were going according to plan and he praised its soldiers as heroes. Putin's televised comments seemed designed to rebut statements by Western governments and intelligence agencies that Russia's campaign has stumbled in the face of logistical problems, tactical mistakes and fiercer-than-expected resistance from Ukraine. UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, RUSSIA (FILE - MARCH 3, 2022) (RUSSIAN POOL) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "Dear comrades. I want to say that the special military operation is proceeding strictly in line with the timetable. According to plan. All the tasks set are being successfully resolved." Putin said on March 11 there had been some progress in Moscow's talks with Ukraine, but provided no details. "There are certain positive shifts, negotiators on our side tell me," Putin said in a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, adding that talks continued "practically on a daily basis." Putin did not elaborate, but said in the televised remarks that he would go into more detail with Lukashenko. MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - MARCH 11, 2022) (RUSSIAN POOL) PUTIN AT MEETING WITH BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING (AUDIO OVERLAID ON SHOT WITH BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO): "I will obviously inform you about the situation in Ukraine, and first and foremost on the progress of the talks that are continuing practically on a daily basis. There are certain positive shifts, negotiators on our side tell me." PUTIN AND LUKASHENKO DURING MEETING Putin said on March 16 that Russia was ready to discuss Ukraine's neutral status in talks aimed at ending hostilities there, but that Moscow would still achieve the goals of its military operation, which he said was "going to plan". Putin also justified the Russian army's military action outside the borders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics", saying the armed conflict would otherwise "continue forever" and that NATO assets would be deployed in the region "even faster and more aggressively". NOVO-OGARYOVO, RUSSIA (FILE - MARCH 16, 2022) (RUSSIAN POOL) (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "If our forces had acted only in the (Donetsk and Luhansk) People's republics, it would have helped them to free their land - it would not have been the solution; it would not have led to peace and would not have eliminated the threat to our country, for Russia. On the contrary, a new frontline would have appeared around Donbas, along its borders, shelling and provocations would have continued. So, the armed conflict would have continued forever, fed by revanchist hysteria from the Kyiv regime. And the NATO military assets would have been deployed even faster and more aggressively." Russian state television showed President Vladimir Putin speaking at a packed Moscow stadium to mark the eighth anniversary of Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula on March 18, in an event filled with performances of patriotic songs. Spectators waved Russian flags and sported patriotic face paint. The letter 'Z' associated with Russian support for the ongoing military campaign in Ukraine could be seen widely around the stadium. Russian state television's transmission of Putin's speech was, however, unexpectedly cut short due to what the Kremlin later described as a "technical glitch". MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - MARCH 18, 2022) (RUSSIAN POOL) MAN WITH RUSSIAN FLAG PAINTED ON HIS CHEEK PEOPLE IN STADIUM WAVING FLAGS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "The best proof is how our lads are fighting at this special military operation. (WIDE SHOT) Shoulder to shoulder. They help and support each other. And if needed, they shield (their comrades-in-arms) from bullets on the battlefield with their own bodies as if they were their own brothers. (IN SHOT) We haven't seen such unity for a long time." WOMEN APPLAUDING 22 . VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WAVING FLAGS INSIDE AND OUTSIDE LUZHNIKI STADIUM Putin said on March 23 Russia would start selling gas to "unfriendly countries" in roubles, after a freeze on Russia's assets by foreign nations had destroyed Moscow's trust. Putin said the changes would only affect the currency of payment and that the government and central bank had one week to come up with a solution on how to move these operations to the Russian currency. NOVO-OGARYOVO, RUSSIA (FILE - MARCH 23, 2022) (RUSSIAN POOL) PUTIN AT TELECONFERENCE CALL WITH RUSSIAN OFFICIALS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN PRESIDENT, VLADIMIR PUTIN, SAYING: "I made a decision to take actions in the shortest time possible to switch payments for our natural gas - we'll start with that - sold to so-called 'unfriendly countries' to Russian roubles."
- Embargoed: 19th May 2022 16:05
- Keywords: Bucha Easter Kyiv Putin Russia Ukraine conflict invasion war
- Location: VARIOUS, RUSSIA / VARIOUS, UKRAINE / BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN
- City: VARIOUS, RUSSIA / VARIOUS, UKRAINE / BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA006430627042022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THERE IS GRAPHIC CONTENT IN SHOTS 31, 32; THIS EDIT IS A TIMELINE OF PREVIOUS EVENTS AND CONTAINS NO NEW FOOTAGE
Russia is heading into the 100th day of its invasion of Ukraine on Saturday (June 4) with no end in sight to the fighting that has killed thousands, uprooted millions and reduced cities to rubble.
After abandoning its assault on the capital, Kyiv, Russia is pressing on in the east and south in the face of mounting sanctions and a fierce Ukrainian counter-offensive bolstered by Western arms.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, calling its action a special military operation to demilitarise Ukraine and eradicate what it calls dangerous nationalists backed by an expansionist NATO military alliance.
The West and Kyiv accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of unprovoked aggression.
Western countries have since imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia's corporate and financial system, sparking a fight between Russia and several European countries it supplies with natural gas.
Addressing massed ranks of service personnel on Red Square on the 77th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, on May 9, Putin exhorted Russians to battle, but was silent about plans for any escalation in Ukraine. He condemned what he called external threats to weaken and split Russia, and repeated that NATO was creating threats right next to its borders.
After weeks of fighting, the last of the Ukrainian fighters holding out at Mariupol's Azovstal steelworks, surrendered to Russian forces on May 20th, Russia's defence ministry said. The southeastern port of Mariupol, is seen as vital to Russian attempts to link the eastern Donbas region with Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Moscow seized in 2014.
On May 28th, Ukraine said its forces may need to retreat from their last pocket of resistance in Luhansk to avoid being captured by Russian troops pressing a rapid advance in the east that has shifted the momentum of the war.
Ukrainian forces endured heavy artillery barrages on May 29 as they held off Russian attempts to capture Sievierodonetsk, the largest city Kyiv still controls in the Luhansk region of the Donbas, Ukrainian officials said.
The battle for Sievierodonetsk, which lies on the eastern bank of the Siverskyi Donets River, is in the spotlight as Russia ekes out slow but solid gains in the Donbas, comprising of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Having failed to take the capital Kyiv in the early phase of the war, Russia is seeking to consolidate its grip on the Donbas, large parts of which are already controlled by Moscow-backed separatists. - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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