Russia warns it will seek gains if Ukraine talks fail
President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia will seek to expand its gains in Ukraine if the country and its allies ignore US proposals for a peace deal.
US President Donald Trump launched a sweeping diplomatic push to end nearly four years of conflict after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but US efforts have run into starkly conflicting demands from Russia and Ukraine.
Speaking at an annual meeting with senior military officials, Putin said Russia would prefer to achieve its goals and “eliminate the root causes of the conflict through diplomatic means” but added that “if the opposing side and its foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive dialogue, Russia will succeed in liberating its historical lands by military means.”
Putin was talking about Ukrainian lands seized by Russia; this action was widely condemned by its allies as a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and an unprovoked act of aggression.
Putin said that “the Russian military has seized and firmly maintained the strategic initiative along the entire front line” and warned that forces would move to expand a “buffer security zone” along the Russian border.
“Our troops are different now, they are battle-hardened, and there is no such army in the world anymore,” he said.
Russia says it controls about 19 percent of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula it annexed in 2014, as well as most of the eastern Donbas region, most of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and small parts of four other regions.
Russia says Crimea, Donbas, Kherson and Zaporizhia are now part of Russia.
Ukraine says it will never accept this, and almost all countries consider the regions part of Ukraine.
Minister of Defense Andrei Belousov said that the task of 2026 is to increase the speed of Russia’s offensive.
A slide shown during a speech he made stated that Russia would spend 5.1 percent of its gross domestic product on war in 2025.
European leaders say they stand with Ukraine and that Russia should not be rewarded for the war, which comes after years of fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops in the Donbas region.
Putin said former US president Joe Biden’s administration was trying to destroy Russia and that some European politicians were pursuing the same goal; European leaders rejected this accusation.
He accused European politicians, whom he described as “exiles” or “baby pigs”, of inciting hysteria about a possible war with Russia by warning that Russian forces could one day attack a country in the NATO military alliance.
“I have repeatedly stated: this is a lie, nonsense, complete nonsense about an imaginary threat from Russia to European countries. But this is being done quite deliberately,” Putin said. he said.
Some European leaders accused Russia of not intending to participate in peace talks.
Directing similar criticism towards Europe, Belousov said that European powers were trying to prevent attempts to end the war and that there was talk of a war between Russia and NATO in a few years.
“Such a policy creates real preconditions for the continuation of military operations next year, that is, 2026,” he said.
According to the head of the regional administration, Ivan Fedorov, at least 26 people were injured by Russian glider bombs in Zaporizhzhia and its surroundings on Wednesday.
Many residential buildings, as well as infrastructure and educational facilities, were damaged in the attack.
Ukraine’s air force said at least 69 long-range drones were launched by Russia overnight.
Air defense intercepted or intercepted 29 UAVs in the morning, the attack continued throughout the day.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 94 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Drones injured two people and damaged several private homes in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, according to regional emergency officials.
via Reuters
