Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin (right) speaks to Russia's Vladimir Putin (left) and Belarus President Lukashenko (center) during their visit at the Vostochny cosmodrome on April 12. Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine would "continue until its full completion and the fulfillment of the tasks that have been set,” the Associated Press reports.
Driving the news: Putin said the "main goal" of the war is "to help people" in the eastern part of Ukraine, underscoring Moscow's focus on the Donbas region, the New York Times reports.
- "What we are doing is helping people and saving people, on the one hand, and on the other hand, we are simply taking measures to ensure the security of Russia itself," Putin said.
- "It is obvious that we had no other choice," he said on Tuesday while visiting Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East with Belarusian President Lukashenko.
Putin's visit to the spaceport marked the anniversary of the first human spaceflight in 1961.
- He said that despite Western sanctions, Russia would proceed with its lunar program.
- "We are not going to isolate ourselves, and it is generally impossible to isolate anyone in the modern world, and most certainly not as huge a country as Russia," the president said.
Go deeper: Inside wartime Russia, Putin isn't losing