"Seyed Ebrahim Raisi was an outstanding politician whose whole life was devoted to serving the Motherland. He rightfully enjoyed the high respect of his compatriots and considerable prestige abroad. As a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good-neighborly relations between our countries, and made great efforts to bring them to the level of strategic partnership," Putin said.

"The defense of the Kharkov region is null, it just doesn't exist. The conditions were subpar, there were no firing points, there were no shelters, there was nothing."