Ukraine war: Russia's Medvedev promises new conquests as Zelenskyy aims to attract arms allies

Ukraine: Medvedev promises more conquests a year on from the annexation of territories

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has vowed that Russia will capture more territory in Ukraine, a year after the claimed annexation of four Ukrainian regions, presented by Vladimir Putin as the fulfilment of the imperial project of ‘New Russia’.

“The special military operation (in Ukraine) will continue until the complete destruction of the Nazi regime in Kiev and the liberation of originally Russian territories from the hands of the enemy,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram.

“Victory will be ours. And more new regions will join Russia,” the second in command of the Russian Security Council added.

Also on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin also promised "regeneration and socio-economic development" of the annexed regions in Ukraine, in a speech broadcast by the Kremlin.

"By defending our fellow citizens in Donbass and ‘New Russia’, we are defending Russia itself and fighting for our homeland, our sovereignty, for our spiritual values ​​and our unity,” Putin said.

At the end of September 2022, after the organisation of so-called ‘referendums’ deemed fictitious by Kiev and the West, Vladimir Putin approved the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in the east, as well as those of Zaporizhia and Kherson in the south.

These annexations have triggered condemnation from Ukraine and its Western supporters, who consider them to be “illegal”.

30 September was declared as a “reunification day” by Vladimir Putin.

However, Russia only partially controls these regions and faces a counter-offensive from Ukraine, which seeks to retake them.

In Ukraine, a move to attract defence industrialists to produce weapons on its territory