Russian President Vladimir Putin is receiving up-to-the-minute information about the ongoing events in southeastern Ukraine, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces have launched a "punitive operation" using combat aircraft, the Russian president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said.
“During a recent visit to Minsk, Putin called such a possible operation criminal,” Peskov said.
“Regrettably, the ongoing events have fully confirmed this assessment,” the press secretary said.
The Russian president’s special envoy Vladimir Lukin arrived in southeastern Ukraine on May 1 on Putin’s instructions in order to hold negotiations on the release of the foreign military observers detained there earlier, Peskov said.
“We have been unable to get in touch with Lukin since the “punitive operation” began,” Peskov said.
“Generally speaking, as Russia makes efforts to de-escalate and settle the conflict, the Kyiv regime ordered combat aircraft to fire at civilian towns and villages, launching a “punitive operation” and effectively destroying all hope for the viability of the [April 17] Geneva agreements,” the presidential press secretary said.
“We are extremely concerned by the fact that both presidential special envoy Lukin, with whom we are still unable to establish contact, and Russian journalists and media representatives from other countries remain in the area of the “punitive operation”. We will certainly demand measures to ensure their security,” he said.
