Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev promised today that Russia will occupy more territory in Ukraine.
He said this a year after the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, which current President Vladimir Putin presented as an achievement of the "New Russia" project to create Russian territory in the south and east of Ukraine.
"The special military operation (in Ukraine) will continue until the complete destruction of the Nazi regime in Kiev and the liberation of originally Russian territories from the hands of the enemy," Medvedev wrote on Telegram.
"Victory will be ours. And more new regions will join Russia," said Medvedev, who is now a zealous supporter of Russia's attack on Ukraine in the Security Council of Russia.
In a recorded speech broadcast by the Kremlin today, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised "regeneration and socio-economic development" of the annexed regions of Ukraine.
"Defending our fellow citizens in Donbass and New Russia, we are defending Russia itself and fighting for our homeland, sovereignty, for our spiritual values and our unity," said Putin, who declared September 30 "Unification Day."
At the end of September 2022, after organizing a referendum that Kiev and the West judged illegal, Putin approved the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, as well as the regions of Zaporozhye and Kherson in the south of Ukraine.
The annexation of Ukrainian territory to Russia caused sharp condemnations from the Ukrainian authorities and its Western allies.
However, Russia only partially controls these regions and is exposed to a counter-offensive by Ukraine, which seeks to liberate them.
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