Military op in Ukraine to go on, says Dmitry Medvedev

Moscow: The "wonderful" sanctions slapped on Russia by the US and allies would not change a thing and military operation to "protect" Ukraine's Donbass region will be fully carried out until President Vladimir Putin's goals are achieved, Deputy Head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday, as Russian forces intensified its attack in Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other areas.

The US and its allies announced a slew of sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday. They have decided to block assets of four large Russian banks, impose export controls and sanction oligarchs close to Putin.

These wonderful restrictions definitely won't change a thing. It's clear even to the ignorant people at the US Department of State. This refers to the decision to carry out a military operation to protect Donbass, Medvedev, a former Russian prime minister, was quoted as saying by the state-run TASS news agency, citing Russian online social media networking service VKontakte.

The operation will be fully carried out until the goals set by the Russian president are achieved, he said, hoping that the situation will unfold "the way it did in 2008.

Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 and the war lasted for five days. Following the brief war, Russia recognised Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Medvedev, who was the country's prime minister from 2012 to 2020, termed the sanctions as a "myth". All reasonable people realise that sanctions are just a myth, a sham and a figure of speech, he was quoted as saying by the news agency.