President Vladimir Putin has reiterated his main demands to end the war in Ukraine, saying Russia will lay down its arms only if Kiev’s troops withdraw from territory claimed by Moscow.
Putin has long pushed for legal recognition of Ukrainian territories that Russia has seized by force.
They include the Crimea peninsula, which it illegally annexed in 2014, and Donbass, made up of Luhansk and Donetsk, which is now mostly controlled by Moscow.
For Kiev, which has refused to give up the parts of Donbass it still holds, rewarding Russia for its aggression is a non-starter.
Speaking to journalists during a visit to Kyrgyzstan, Putin accused Kiev of wanting to fight “to the last Ukrainian” – something he said Russia was ready to do even “in principle”.
He reiterated his view that Russia has the initiative on the battlefield and the fighting will end only when Ukrainian forces withdraw from the conflict areas.
“If they do not back down, we will achieve it by force of arms,” he said.
Yet Russia’s slow advance into eastern Ukraine has come at a heavy cost in manpower. According to the US-based Institute for the Study of War, at this rate it will take about two more years for Moscow to capture the rest of the Donetsk region.
Thursday’s remarks were the first time Putin addressed last week’s hectic diplomatic moves, in which the US and Ukraine held intense discussions over a peace plan reportedly drawn up in October by US and Russian officials.
The plan, which was too inclined towards Moscow’s demands, was later revised. However, it is believed that it does not address the issue of the occupied territories – which are a security guarantee for Ukraine as well as the biggest sticking point between Moscow and Kiev.
Putin said the new draft plan has now been shown to Russia, and it could become “the basis” of a future agreement to end the war.
However, he said it was “absolutely necessary to discuss some specific points” that needed to be put into diplomatic language.
Asked about the possibility of recognizing Crimea and Donbass as Russian In fact Control But not legally, Putin said: “This is an issue for our discussion with our American counterparts”.
He confirmed that a US delegation, including special envoy Steve Witkoff, is expected to arrive in Moscow in the first half of next week. US President Donald Trump told reporters that Witkoff could also be joined by the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Moscow.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s top presidential aide Andriy Yermak said US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was scheduled to visit Kiev later this week.
On Wednesday Trump said there were “only a few remaining points of disagreement” between Russia and Ukraine – indicating that any meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss these points was contingent on agreeing to a peace deal.
During his comments to journalists Putin again expressed his contempt for the Ukrainian leadership, which he considered illegitimate. So there is “no use” in signing any documents with them, he said.
Ukraine has been under martial law since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 and is therefore unable to hold scheduled elections. Earlier this year, the Ukrainian parliament voted unanimously to confirm the legitimacy of President Zelensky, whose term expired in the spring.
Putin also rejected warnings from European leaders that Russia could attack the European continent in the next decades.
“It really sounds ridiculous to us,” he said.
The White House and Donald Trump seem optimistic about recent diplomatic efforts to negotiate peace, but Europeans have repeatedly expressed skepticism over whether Putin truly intends to end the war.
On Wednesday, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen accused Russia of harboring a post-World War II mentality and viewing the European continent as a “sphere of influence” in which sovereign nations could be “built up.”
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