MOSCOW
\nPresident Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that what was at stake in Ukraine was Russia\u2019s very existence as a state.
\nSpeaking at length to workers at an aviation factory in Buryatia, Putin expanded on his familiar argument that the West was bent on pulling Russia apart.
\n\u201cSo for us this is not a geopolitical task, but a task of the survival of Russian statehood, creating conditions for the future development of the country and our children,\u201d he said. Putin has accused the West of using Ukraine as a tool to wage war against Russia and inflict on it a \u201cstrategic defeat\u201d. He said the enemy had been expecting that factories would grind to a halt, the financial system would collapse, unemployment would rise, protesters would take to the streets, and Russia would \u201csway from within and collapse\u201d.
\n\u201cThis did not happen,\u201d Putin said. \u201cIt turned out, for many of us, and even more so for Western countries, that the fundamental foundations of Russia\u2019s stability are much stronger than anyone thought.\u201d
\nUkraine\u2019s future hinges on the outcome of battles in the east, including in and around Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, with both sides describing brutal fighting as Russia intensifies a winter campaign to capture the small city.
\nBakhmut has become the focus of Russia\u2019s invasion, with the months-long fight becoming Europe\u2019s bloodiest infantry battle since World War II.\u2014Agencies
\n\u201cIt is very tough in the east \u2014 very painful,\u201d Zelenskiy said in his overnight video address, held nightly since Russia launched its invasion more than a year ago.
\n\u201cWe have to destroy the enemy\u2019s military power. And we shall destroy it.\u201d
\nTalks continue to extend a deal to allow grain shipments from Ukra\u00acine\u2019s Black Sea ports ahead of a deadline later this week, the United Nations and Turkiye said on Tuesday, after Kyiv rejected a Russian push for a reduced 60-day renewal.
\n\u201cIndeed, the deal has been extended \u2014 it has been agreed that it has been extended for 60 days,\u201d the TASS news agency cited Russia\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying on Tuesday.
\nUkraine said it will stick to the terms of the previously agreed deal based on a 120-day duration that can be renewed.
\n\u201cWe will follow the agreement strictly,\u201d a senior Ukrainian government official said. The official declined to be identified.
\nA Russian fighter jet on Tuesday dumped fuel on an American drone over the Black Sea then collided with it, causing the drone to crash, the US military said.
\nUS European Command said two Russian Su-27 fighters intercepted the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper over international waters and one clipped its propeller.
\n\u201cSeveral times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner,\u201d it said.
\nNato diplomats in Brussels confirmed the incident, but said they did not expect it to immediately escalate into a further confrontation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOSCOW President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that what was at stake in Ukraine was Russia\u2019s very existence as a state. Speaking at length to workers at an aviation factory in Buryatia, Putin expanded on his familiar argument that the West was bent on pulling Russia apart. \u201cSo for us this is not a geopolitical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319336,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-319737","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n