Putin says Russia will work to ‘normalize’ life in Ukraine’s Donbas

By AP 20 April 2022, 3:46 pm

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Russia will “act consistently” to make sure that life in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland “normalizes,” Russian President Vladimir Putin says.

Speaking at a meeting with members of a state-funded non-profit group, Putin pledges that “we will act consistently and make sure [that] life in Donbas normalizes.”

Putin says hostilities in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014, prompted Russia to launch a military operation.

“All these eight years, bombing, artillery strikes and hostilities continued there. And of course, it was very, very hard for people,” Putin said. “The goal of the operation is to help our people living in Donbas.”