Russian Ambassador to USA: Putin has made the decision

Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin made a decision on how to respond to Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk region of Russia.

"I am telling you this sincerely that the president has made a decision. I am firmly convinced that everyone will be severely punished for what happened in the Kursk region," Anatoly Antonov, Russian Ambassador to the United States said.

"No one has any doubt that they [Ukrainian fighters] will be annihilated, not pushed back, but annihilated," he added.

The fighting in the Kursk region has been going on for more than two weeks, after the Armed Forces of Ukraine invaded the Russian region on August 6. A counter-terrorism operation regime has been introduced in the region, as well as in Belgorod and Bryansk regions.

The ambassador said that Ukraine will not be able to create a buffer zone on Russian territory.

"This is impossible… There will be no buffer zone on the territory of the Russian Federation," Anatoly Antonov said. "It is not for the Americans to judge what Russia should do and how Russia will defend its borders. We will not even talk to them about this," the ambassador added.

On August 19, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that one of the goals of Ukraine's invasion of the Kursk region was to create a buffer zone on Russian territory. Zelensky also called on allies to speed up arms deliveries.

In turn, deputy official representative of the Pentagon Sabrina Singh said that the United States still had questions about the goals and objectives of Ukraine's incursion into Russia. In the understanding of the American authorities, it goes about the creation of a buffer zone, but Washington has questions about this, she said.

The term "sanitary" or "buffer zone" was used by Russian President Vladimir Putin when explaining the offensive of the Russian Armed Forces in the Kharkiv region. The Russian military need to create such a zone to protect the country's territory from Ukraine's artillery shelling.

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Anatoly Ivanovich Antonov, born 15 May 1955, is a Russian military official and diplomat who is currently the Ambassador of Russia to the United States, formally replacing Sergey Kislyak on 21 August 2017 by presidential decree. With a reputation as a hardliner and tough negotiator, Antonov took up his post in Washington, D.C. on 1 September 2017. He was formerly Deputy Minister of Defence and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Since 2015, he has been under sanctions of the European Union and Canada, in response to Russia's military intervention in Ukraine. He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation.