Russia to create sanitary zone in Ukraine to put an end to ongoing shelling

Russia may need to create a sanitary zone in Ukraine due to the ongoing shelling of border regions, President Vladimir Putin said.

Putin was asked whether he considered it necessary to annex the Kharkiv region to Russia in order to ensure the security of the Belgorod region, as Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov proposed. The President noted that he was not yet ready to talk about what Russia may annex, how and when.

"I do not exclude that, bearing in mind the tragic events taking place today, we will be forced at some point — when we consider it appropriate — to create a certain sanitary zone in today's territories subordinate to the Kyiv regime," Putin said.

It goes about a security zone that will be difficult to overcome using primarily Western weapons that the Ukrainian troops use today.

The head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin noted that the borders of the sanitary zone would depend on what weapons Western countries supply to Ukraine.

The territory of the republic is designated along the administrative borders of the former Donetsk region, Pushilin said. In this regard, the sanitary zone that the president spoke about "should be located on the territory of at least the Dnepropetrovsk region.”

Putin first spoke about the sanitary zone in the summer of 2023. Such a zone may appear if Ukraine continues striking Russian border territories. The purpose of such a zone would be to prevent Ukraine from "getting us,” Putin indicated.

Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said commenting on Putin's words that the sanitary zone would help move Ukraine's long-range artillery to a safe distance and protect peaceful objects on the Russian territory.

Over the past week, 16 civilians were killed and 98 were injured as a result of Ukraine's artillery attacks in the Belgorod region of Russia.