About this writes espreso.tv

"To create a security zone that will be quite difficult to overcome, using the means of defeat that the enemy uses, first of all, of course, foreign-made," putin said.

In turn, viktor vodolatsky, deputy chairman of the state duma for CIS affairs, listed settlements that, in his opinion, should be included in the "sanitary zone" putin was talking about.

"This is not only Kharkiv, but also Dnipropetrovsk (Dnipro, - ed.), Odessa, Nikolaev and many other settlements. It is important that there are no AFU fighters, their weapons, rocket launchers on this territory. We must take this territory under control, move the troops back," the russian said.

At the same time, Donetsk Region Gauleiter denis pushilin also said that the "sanitary zone" should run through the territory of the Dnipropetrovsk region.

What the OP is saying

Advisor to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podolyak called putin's statement an escalation of the conflict.

"This... a direct statement that the war will only escalate," The Guardian quoted him as saying.

• The Telegraph earlier quoted its own sources as saying that the occupiers could launch a second offensive on Kharkiv on January 15. On January 5, the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, Oleh Sinegubov, said that no concentration of russian military units capable of offensive actions against Kharkiv near the border with Ukraine had been recorded so far.
• The AFU Ground Forces also said that an attack by the occupants on Kharkiv was now unlikely.