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

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.

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.'

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.”

"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.

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

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.