President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia's military operations in Ukraine were going according to plan and he praised its soldiers as heroes.
"I want to say that the special military operation is proceeding strictly in line with the timetable. According to plan. All the tasks that have been set are being successfully resolved," he said, a week after Russia sent tanks and troops into Ukraine from the north, east and south.
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.
He made a series of allegations against Ukrainian forces for which he did not provide evidence, including that they had tortured and killed Russian prisoners of war, and were holding foreign citizens hostage and using human shields.
He reaffirmed his stated rationale for the war, which Ukraine and the West have rejected as baseless propaganda.
"Now on Ukrainian territory, our soldiers and officers are fighting for Russia, for a peaceful life for the citizens of Donbass, for the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine, so that we can't be threatened by an anti-Russia right on our borders that the West has been creating for years," he said.
