00:00Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow will press ahead on the battlefield,
00:05aiming to fully capture four Ukrainian regions.
00:08He adds that the Kremlin will not accept a Ukrainian proposal
00:12to halt long-range strikes in the war that has now entered its fifth year.
00:19Putin said Moscow saw the proposal as an attempt to relieve pressure on Ukraine's forces
00:24along the 1,250-kilometer front line, but it will not be distracted by it.
00:30He also said Russia needed to boost its air defense capacity
00:34to counter intensified Ukrainian drone strikes on its oil industry.
00:38Putin, however, admitted the country is facing fuel shortages
00:42following a wave of long-range drone attacks on energy infrastructure,
00:46but insisted the Kremlin is managing the situation.
00:50Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote an open letter
00:53to propose a face-to-face meeting with Putin earlier this month,
00:57but the Russian leader has rejected the offer.
01:00Putin has long insisted that Ukraine withdraw from remaining positions in Donetsk
01:05as a key condition for any peace deal to materialize.
