Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Source: Reuters)

Mr Putin is “not ready to talk about what, how and when to annex” Ukraine’s Kharkiv region to stop attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (VSU) on the border region of Belgorod, Russia.

However, noting “the tragic events that are taking place today”, he did not rule out that Russia “will be forced at some point – when we see fit – to create certain ‘safe zones’ in the territories that are now under the Kiev regime”.

“It will be quite difficult to break through a safe zone with the weapons used by the enemy, of course, mainly foreign-made,” President Putin explained, without specifying how deep the “safe zone” would be.

In addition, answering questions about the possibility of France deploying infantry to Ukraine, as well as the risk of direct conflict between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Reuters quoted the leader as saying that "anything can happen in the modern world."

“Everyone sees clearly that World War III is just one step away. I think almost no one cares about this,” President Putin stressed.

Saying that NATO soldiers were present in Ukraine because Moscow had discovered that the enemy was using both English and French on the front line, the Kremlin leader asserted: “There is nothing good in this, first of all for them, because they are dying there in large numbers.”

Regarding opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison on February 16, TASS reported that President Putin said he had agreed to exchange the politician for people in prison in the West a few days before the news of his death, on the condition that the figure would not return to Russia after the exchange.

“His passing is always a sad event,” he said at a press conference. “But there are also cases of people dying in re-education camps… There are also prisoners dying in American prisons, right?”