Putin praises the recent positive dynamic of the Russian attack on Ukraine

The Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that the military campaign in Ukraine is following a positive dynamic and everything is going according to plans, after announcing the control of the town of Solidar in eastern Ukraine, in what Moscow presented as a victory, while Kyiv continues to deny.

“The dynamic is positive and everything is going according to the plans of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff,” Putin said in an interview with the Russian public channel broadcast on Sunday.

The Russian president said “I hope that our soldiers will please us more than once with their military results”.

Putin’s words came from an airport runway near the Russian presidential plane, in response to a question by a journalist from Russia-1 channel about news from Solidar, which the Russian army announced Friday that it had seized it.

Moscow presented this as a military achievement, after months of setbacks, especially with the withdrawal of its forces in the autumn from the Kharkiv region and the major city of Kherson, in the face of Ukrainian counterattacks.

The Russian control of Solidar constitutes an important stage for surrounding the neighboring city of Bakhmut, which the Russian army and the Russian Wagner paramilitary group have been seeking to control for months.

The Ukrainian governor of Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirilenko, announced on Saturday that the city of Solidar is still under the control of Ukraine, stressing that the battles continue in the town and its outskirts.