Russia says it is still far from reaching some of its self-declared goals since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The most important task had been to protect the people in Donbas, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Bosnian television station ATV broadcast on Wednesday evening.

“In part, we have succeeded in fulfilling this task, but in part, we are still far from it,’’ Mr Peskov said.

Russia had been claiming that the goal of the war was to protect the population in the Donbas area as a justification for its invasion ever since it began last February.

Mr Peskov explained the lack of visible successes in recent months by claiming that the Russian army was not waging war.

“Waging war is something completely different. It means the total destruction of infrastructure, the total destruction of cities. We are not doing that,’’ Mr Peskov said.

Despite his statements, Russia’s forces had repeatedly used missiles and drones to target Ukrainian cities and infrastructure sites, the electricity grid, in particular, leaving cities destroyed and thousands of Ukrainians dead.

His comments recalled statements made by Russian President Vladimir Putin last autumn, who declared that Russia had not even begun to wage war.

At the time, his comments were seen as threatening to escalate the conflict further, though Russia had since failed to make major terrain gains.

(dpa/NAN)