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By Vladimir Soldatkin and Guy Faulconbridge
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Ukraine's incursion into the Russian region of Kursk had failed to slow Russia's own advance in eastern Ukraine and had weakened Kyiv's defences along the frontline in a boost to Moscow.
Putin, speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, said that Russian forces were now gradually pushing Ukrainian soldiers out of Kursk, where on Aug. 6 Ukraine launched the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two.
Ukraine had weakened its defences elsewhere and allowed Russia to accelerate its push into the eastern Donbas area, he said, reiterating that Moscow's primary aim was to take full control of the Donbas.
"The enemy's goal was to make us nervous and worry and to transfer troops from one sector to another and to stop our offensive in key areas, primarily in the Donbas," Putin said. "Did it work? No."
Putin, who ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 in what he called a special military operation, said it was now "the sacred duty of the armed forces" to expel Ukrainian forces from Kursk and to defend Russian citizens.
Ukraine's top commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, has said that one of the objectives of the Kursk operation was to divert Russian forces from other areas, primarily in eastern Ukraine near the cities of Pokrovsk and Kurakhove.
Though the Kursk incursion was an embarrassment for Putin and the top military brass, Russian officials are now portraying it as one of Kyiv's biggest tactical mistakes of the war, saying it ties down thousands of troops for little real gain.
"By transferring rather large and well-trained units to these border areas with us, the enemy weakened itself in key areas, and our troops accelerated offensive operations," Putin said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Kyiv plans to hold territory in Kursk and that the operation, which he says is part of a not fully disclosed victory plan, has brought the war home to Russians.
Putin said Russian forces were taking chunks of territory in eastern Ukraine more swiftly than ever - and that recruitment rates were increasing in Russia.
"No action is taking place to contain our offensive," Putin said. He said Russia's advance on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk was successful.
Russian forces, which control 18% of Ukraine, have been advancing in eastern Ukraine since the failure of Kyiv's 2023 counter-offensive to achieve a major breakthrough.
Although the Kremlin says the conditions for peace talks with Ukraine do not currently exist, Putin named China, India and Brazil as potential mediators and repeated his view that an initial agreement reached in the first weeks of the war at talks in Istanbul, which was never implemented, could serve as a basis for talks.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Vladivostok and Darya Korsunskaya and Maxim Rodionov in London; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn; Editing by Ros Russell and Philippa Fletcher)
