Putin: The West Aims to End Russia's 1000-Year Statehood; We Will Fight to the End

Speaking in Vietnam shortly after a lavish visit to Pyongyang, where he signed a mutual defense agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned South Korea against arming Ukraine saying "If South Korea supplies weapons to Ukraine, it will not like the answer." He said the West is seeking to deal a defeat to Russia saying "The West wants to inflict a strategic defeat of Russia on the battlefield. This would mean and end to the 1000-year-old statehood of Russia. Therefore we will fight to the end." He told reporters "Russia never had any plans to capture the city of Kharkov," adding "as we warned, we are only interested in creating a sanitary zone along the Kharkov border to prevent Ukrainian shelling of Russian territory." On nuclear weapons, Putin said: "as for the preemptive strike, we don't need it because if we respond, our enemies will be destroyed."