Putin's 'prerogative to decide end of Ukraine operation’

Kremlim spokesperson says offensive has specific goals that need to be achieved, denies occupation

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has envisaged the targets for the military attack against Ukraine and he will be deciding when it ends “based on results and expediency,” the Kremlin said on Thursday.

The operation “has its goals and they need to be achieved,” spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, when asked by media persons as to when the offensive would end, RT reported.

Russian strikes pose no threat to civilian population in Ukraine – Ministry of Defense pic.twitter.com/fxllzwuwZp

— RT (@RT_com) February 24, 2022

Today morning, during his telivised address, Putin said he had orderd the operation to demilitarise and "denazify" the country.

According to him, Moscow's security had been compromised by the 'Nato encroachment in Ukraine.'

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday authorized "a special military operation" in Donbass and Ukraine has severed diplomatic relations with Russia. The conflict has aroused grave concern in the international community. #GLOBALink pic.twitter.com/nx3l2vz8VJ

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) February 24, 2022

Putin further said Russia is 'duty-bound' to protect the now-recognised breakaway republics, namely Donetsk and Lugansk from persistent attacks by Ukrainian forces.

Also read: Russia launches full-scale attack on Ukraine

In the current briefing, Peskov said the country vowed to “neutralise [Ukrainian] military potential, which was boosted considerably lately, including with the active assistance of foreign nations.”

Kiev's roads jammed and locals mass at the railway station in Ukraine's Kiev amid the ongoing special military operation in Donbass pic.twitter.com/GVKe813S94

— RT (@RT_com) February 24, 2022

"Ideally", he added, Ukraine needed to be "cleansed" from 'neo-Nazi ideology'. The spokesperson downplayed the notion that Russia was occupying Ukraine, saying the current action had limited goals for security.

CNN's Matthew Chance reports from an airbase outside the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, where Russian airborne troops are engaged in a fire fight with the Ukrainian military https://t.co/TaPomIUP26 pic.twitter.com/rSye7nzmbi

— CNN (@CNN) February 24, 2022

"The future of Ukraine is to be decided by the Ukrainian people," Peskov maintained.

Watch Russian rockets fly in the air and tanks roll past CNN reporter Frederick Pleitgen as they appear to head towards Ukraine from Belgorod, Russia https://t.co/ZzKF4aYCcD pic.twitter.com/Z1ipkXcOPV

— CNN (@CNN) February 24, 2022

Earlier today, Russia launched an all-out 'invasion' of Ukraine by land, air and sea, the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two and confirmation of the worst fears of the West.

Russian missiles rained down on Ukrainian cities. Ukraine reported columns of troops pouring across its borders into the eastern Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Luhansk regions, and landing by sea at the cities of Odessa and Mariupol in the south.