"Our troops are constantly improving their positions in all directions, every day," Putin said during a meeting with top military officials and new Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, broadcast on Russian television. Russia launched a surprise offensive in northeastern Ukraine on Friday and on Saturday claimed to have taken several towns in the Kharkiv region, whose capital of the same name is Ukraine's second-largest city. "The speed with which we react to the demands of the moment gives us confidence that we will fulfill all our objectives," Putin added, quoted by the French news agency AFP. In the face of the Russian offensive, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered reinforcements to Kharkiv and canceled all foreign trips in the coming days, including planned visits to Spain and Portugal. At the meeting with the military, Putin said that defense and security spending this year will amount to 8.7% of gross domestic product (GDP). "Let me remind you that in the mid-1980s, the Soviet Union's total spending on defense and security amounted to about 13%. In 2024, our spending on defense and security will be about 8.7%," he said. Russia's federal budget for this year includes 13.67 trillion rubles ($131.6 billion, at the current exchange rate) in defense and security spending. "This is a lot of money, and we are obliged to manage it carefully and effectively," he said. Putin insisted that the reason for appointing Belousov to the defense post was the increase in military spending and the need to balance the cost of weapons with social programs in the national economy. "While increasing spending on defense and security, we proceed from the principle that all social obligations to citizens must be fulfilled," he said. According to Putin, Belousov, a technocrat and economic expert, knows how to best manage Russian military spending in the current conditions. Belousov replaced Sergei Shoigu, who had been defense minister for 12 years, including the more than two years of the current war against Ukraine, which Russia invaded in February 2023. Shoigu, now secretary of Russia's Security Council, attended the meeting with Putin, as did the chief of the armed forces' General Staff, Valery Gerasimov. Putin promised that, for the time being, there would be no changes in the leadership of the General Staff, a possibility that had been raised after Shoigu's dismissal. Read Also: Religious leaders defend dialogue on conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza (Portuguese version)