{"id":75577,"date":"2022-12-08T02:39:43","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T02:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/12\/08\/putin-says-ukraine-fight-is-taking-longer-than-expected\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:01:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:01:41","slug":"putin-says-ukraine-fight-is-taking-longer-than-expected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2022\/12\/08\/putin-says-ukraine-fight-is-taking-longer-than-expected\/","title":{"rendered":"Putin says Ukraine fight is taking longer than expected"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KYIV, Ukraine \u2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Wednesday that his \u201cspecial military operation\u201d in Ukraine<\/a> is taking longer than expected but said it has succeeded in seizing new territory and added that his country\u2019s nuclear weapons are deterring escalation<\/a> of the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course, it could be a lengthy process,\u201d Putin said of the more than 9-month-old war that began with Russia\u2019s invasion Feb. 24 and has displaced millions from their homes, and killed and wounded tens of thousands. Despite its length, he showed no signs of letting up, vowing to \u201cconsistently fight for our interests\u201d and to \u201cprotect ourselves using all means available.\u201d He reiterated his claim that he had no choice but to send in troops, saying that for years, the West responded to Russia\u2019s security demands with \u201conly spit in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in a televised meeting in Russia with members of his Human Rights Council, Putin described the land gains as \u201ca significant result for Russia,\u201d noting that the Sea of Azov \u201chas become Russia\u2019s internal sea.\u201d In one of his frequent historic references to a Russian leader he admires, he added that \u201cPeter the Great fought to get access\u201d to that body of water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Russian
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the annual meeting of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights via videoconference in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After failing to take Kyiv due to fierce Ukrainian resistance<\/a>, Russia seized broad swaths of southern Ukraine at the start of the invasion and captured the key Sea of Azov port of Mariupol in May after a nearly three-month siege. In September, Putin illegally annexed four Ukrainian regions even though his forces didn\u2019t completely control them: Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south, and Donetsk and Luhansk in the east. In 2014, he had illegally annexed Ukraine\u2019s Crimean Peninsula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to an increasing influx of advanced Western weapons, economic, political and humanitarian aid to Kyiv and what he saw as Western leaders\u2019 inflammatory statements, Putin has periodically hinted at his potential use of nuclear weapons. When a member of the Human Rights Council asked him Wednesday to pledge that Russia would not be the first to use such weapons, Putin demurred. He said Russia would not be able to use nuclear weapons at all if it agreed not to use them first and then came under a nuclear strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\t