Russian President Vladimir Putin warns Poland: ‘Will act to aggression against Belarus’

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday (July 21) issued a stern warning to Poland saying that it would treat any “aggression” against its ally Belarus as an attack on his own country.

Putin’s remarks came following Poland’s move to enhance security on its own border in response to Wagner mercenary forces’ presence in its neighbour Belarus.

“Aggression against Belarus will mean aggression against the Russian Federation,” Putin said in televised comments during a Security Council meeting.

“We will respond to this with all the means at our disposal,” he said, referring to the so-called Union State between Belarus and Russia.

'Ukraine's counteroffensive unsuccessful'

Speaking about Ukraine’s much-touted counteroffensive Putin claimed that despite getting financial and military help from the West, Kyiv has been unable to gain desired results.

“In any case, there are no results yet," Putin said of the counteroffensive.

“Neither the colossal resources that have been pumped into the Kyiv regime nor the supplies of Western weapons, tanks, artillery, armoured vehicles and missiles are helping," he added.

Putin said the diminishing number of Western tanks, artillery, armored vehicles and missiles supplied to Ukraine, as well as “thousands of foreign mercenaries and advisers,” have not helped Kyiv achieve military objectives, Moscow Times reported

The Russian president further claimed that “tens of thousands” of Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and wounded, though he did not provide any evidence to support to his claim.

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Ukraine’s sluggish counteroffensive

Ukraine has claimed to have recaptured 300 square kilometres of occupied areas as part of their summer counteroffensive.

But by their own admission, their counter-operation has so far been sluggish.

This week, the commander of Ukraine's ground forces admitted that the battlefield situation in eastern Ukraine was “complicated.”

In June, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that counteroffensive may be going “slower than desired” but insisted that he will not needlessly risk soldiers’ lives to meet international expectations.

Again on July 6, Zelensky claimed that delayed deliveries of weapons from the West has impacted Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

Speaking to CNN, Zelensky revealed that he had sought to begin the counteroffensive against Russia "much earlier". The counteroffensive started in early June.

Our slowed-down counteroffensive is happening due to certain difficulties in the battlefield. Everything is heavily mined there," Zelensky said.

“I wanted our counteroffensive happening much earlier, because everyone understood that if the counteroffensive will be unfolding later, then much bigger part of our territory will be mined,” the Ukrainian leader added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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