War goals to be achieved: Russian officials

AP , Tuesday 24 May 2022

Two top Russian security officials vowed on Tuesday that Moscow will achieve all the goals set for the ``military operation'' in Ukraine, appearing to address the fact that the invasion, expected by many to be a blitzkrieg, has entered its fourth month this week.

Sergei Shoigu   Valery Gerasimov
File Photo: Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (right) and chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov attend a meeting with Russian President in Moscow, on February 27, 2022. AFP

The secretary of Russia's Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said in an interview published Tuesday that the Russian government ``is not chasing deadlines.''

``Nazism must either be 100% eradicated, or it will raise its head in a few years, and in an even uglier form,'' he said in a response to a question about the war dragging on.

Russia has falsely called the war a campaign to ``denazify'' Ukraine _ a country with a democratically elected Jewish president who wants closer ties with the West.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting of security officials that Russia is deliberately slowing down its offensive by arranging cease-fires and humanitarian corridors ``in order to avoid casualties among the civilians.''

AP's reporting on the ground found that the Russian forces have repeatedly hit civilian targets, such as hospitals, schools and venues where civilians were sheltering.

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