"The initiative on the line of contact has completely passed to the Russian military," President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Dmitry Kiselyov for Rossiya 1 and RIA Novosti, Paralel.Az reports citing Pravda.

"Ukraine's attacks on Russian regions are aimed at preventing, if not disrupting the elections in Russia. Another goal is to get some kind of trump card in a possible negotiation process: "Well, we'll give it back to you, and you give it back to us," he noted.