Afrasianet - The Russian president has described the targeting of the Kursk and Zaporozhye nuclear plants by Ukrainian forces as extremely serious acts of terrorism, wondering what repercussions would occur if Russia responded in kind.

Speaking at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said in a speech on the situation around the Russian Kursk and Zaporozhye atomic stations: "The Ukrainian strikes on the Kursk and Zaporozhye stations are very serious acts of terrorism and you can imagine what will happen if we reciprocate. What will happen to that whole part of Europe?"

Speaking about the developments of the special military operation, Putin stressed that the priority is the liberation of Donbass, and said that Russia will always defend the interests of those people in Ukraine who adhere to the Russian language and traditions.

Putin noted that Ukraine's attack on Russia's border areas failed to achieve its goals and work is underway to expel the enemy from the country's territory.

The following are the most prominent statements of the Russian president in this regard:

•    By attacking the Kursk province and other border areas, Ukraine wanted to distract Russian forces from the offensive in the Donbass, but failed

•    The Ukrainian attempt to attack Russia's border areas seriously weakened the Ukrainian army itself in other axes, while Russian forces accelerated their offensive with daily territorial gains amounting not to hundreds of meters but square kilometers.

•    The losses of the Ukrainian forces are so great that the Ukrainian army may soon lose its combat capability

•    Mobilization in Ukraine will drain the entire country and will even include students and the "Hitler Youth"

•    Representatives of the elites in Kiev do not care about their people, their relatives live abroad, and they themselves can board a plane and leave at any moment

•    Russian troops managed to stabilize the situation in our country's border areas and began to gradually drive the enemy out of them

•    The sacred duty of the Russian Armed Forces is to do everything in their power to expel the enemy from the Russian border areas and reliably protect our citizens

•    The attack by Ukrainian forces on Kursk only united Russian society, while the enemy aimed to sow panic and destabilize the internal situation in Russia.
Source: RT