In response to Kiev's counter-offensive, Putin clarifies Russia's main objective in Ukraine.

RT - Russia's plan for its military operation in Ukraine has not changed, and the main objective remains the liberation of the entire territory of the two Donbass republics, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. The statement comes amid an ongoing counter-offensive by Kyiv.

"There are no adjustments to the plan. The General Staff makes operational decisions during the course of the campaign regarding what is considered a key objective," Putin told reporters on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

"The main objective is the liberation of the entire Donbass territory. This work continues, despite attempted counter-attacks by the Ukrainian army," added the Russian president.

Putin stressed that the Russian army continues to make "incremental" advances in Donbass itself. He also said that Moscow is not "in a hurry" in Ukraine.

Commenting on the "Kyiv Security Pact" presented by Ukraine this week, the Russian president noted that the two countries had drawn up a set of security guarantees and terms to end the conflict in March, during the Istanbul talks – but then Kyiv withdrew from the table.

"Now they say they don't want any agreement with Russia, but they want to win on the battlefield. Well, flag in hand," Putin said, using Russian idiom to ironically wish someone success in a hopeless endeavor.

Although his spokesman Dmitry Peskov had described Kiev's proposal as proof that Russia is being threatened by NATO, Putin said he wanted to wait and see what the Ukrainians actually proposed, since "their position on almost every issue changes almost every day."

The West does, in fact, intend to dismember Russia – and has had such plans for decades – the president noted, but one of the reasons the special military operation began is that some Western countries decided to use Ukraine to achieve it.

Moscow responded "with restraint" to Ukrainian "terrorist attacks" against infrastructure and civilian personnel, including the attack on nuclear facilities inside Russia, Putin said. Such behavior is unacceptable, and if Ukraine continues with it, the Russian response will be "more serious" than the recent "sensitive attacks," which served as a kind of warning, the Russian president added.