Putin challenges West to try and tackle Russian military, declaring ‘They want to beat us on the battlefield – let them try’, accusing US of ‘decades of extreme aggression’
- Russian leader’s chest-thumping speech hints at escalation in Ukraine
- Putin said: ‘They want to beat us on the battlefield – well… let them try’
- Kremlin boss added: ‘West has been extremely aggressive towards Russia’
- West ‘turns into totalitarianism’, dictator claimed in new TV comments
Vladimir Putin has vowed to defeat the West on the ‘battlefield’ and suggested he could escalate the war Ukraine†
The Russian leader announced during a televised meeting with MPs this afternoon: “Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield.
‘Well, what can I say – let them try.
Putin – pictured earlier today at a rally in Moscow – made the defiant remarks despite Russia’s humiliating failure to take Ukraine into a “special military operation” since late February.
Putin added: “The collective West, led by the US, has been extremely aggressive towards Russia for decades.”
He believed that Russia “has started nothing serious in Ukraine”.
The Kremlin leader added ominously: “We haven’t really started yet.
“We have often heard that the West wants to fight with us to the last Ukrainian. This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is going here.
The West is turning into totalitarianism. It has failed in its new attempt to contain Russia. We are now at the beginning of a transition to a multipolar world.’
Putin met the winners of the contest in the Kremlin for lunch earlier today before the speech
Putin has boasted of the might of the Russian military, which failed to take all of Ukraine in a months-long invasion. Pictured: A Russian road mobile missile system in eastern Ukraine
The insurgent comments came as Ukrainian troops raised the flag over Snake Island for the first time since they recaptured the Black Sea archipelago last week.
Guards chief Arut Papoian said: ‘Snake Island has always been and always will be Ukrainian. And no temporary occupation will change that.
“Soon all of Ukraine will be liberated. We will win together.’
Russia left the outpost in a “goodwill gesture” just days after Ukrainian forces launched a crippling missile strike.
Snake Island was ‘covered in fire’ after salvo of rocket attacks on Russian positions, Kiev . said
Putin’s remaining troops on the island fled on two speedboats in the middle of the night, leaving the rocky island “covered in fire” after another salvo of rocket attacks on remaining Russian positions, the Ukrainian military said.
The Russians made unsuccessful attempts to destroy their remaining equipment left behind on the island, in order to prevent it from falling into Ukrainian hands and turning against its creators.
The retreat represented a humiliating strategic blow to Putin in a war in which he lost tens of thousands of soldiers and vast amounts of military equipment.
Lapdog MPs have also urged Putin to take back Alaska from the United States in bold new comments.
State Duma parliament leader Vyacheslav Volodin (right) recently meets with President Putin (left)
Vyacheslav Volodin, Speaker of the State Duma and Russia’s foremost politician, made the astonishing suggestion during a session of parliament on Wednesday.
Volodin said America should “remember before it starts spending confiscated Russian money” — and “we should also get something in return,” while telling MPs to “keep an eye on Alaska.”
Tsar Alexander II sold the area to U.S. President Andrew Johnson in 1867 for $7.2 million — $144 million in today’s money — and it became a state in 1959. “Decency is not weakness,” Volodin told the government on Wednesday. House of Representatives.
“We always have something to answer with. “Always remember America, there is part of its territory… Alaska.”
Volodin said, “Always let America remember, there is a part of its territory…Alaska”
President Zelensky and his allies have increased calls in recent weeks to use seized Russian assets to pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction, pending a formal proposal to the UN in September.
Ukraine estimates the cost of rebuilding the damage to the country – as things stand – at a staggering $750 billion (£625 billion).
To ease the burden on both Kiev and its allies, politicians say seized Russian assets — including $300 billion (£250 billion) in foreign exchange reserves — should contribute to the final settlement.