Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Moscow would halt its offensive against Ukraine only if Kyiv withdraws from all territories Russia claims as its own.
Putin said Russian forces would otherwise seize them by force.
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“If Ukrainian forces leave the territories they hold, then we will stop combat operations,” Putin said during a visit to Kyrgyzstan. “If they don’t, then we will achieve it by military means.”
Russia laid claim to the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions via illegal referendums in late 2022 – a vote Kyiv and the West reject. Moscow now controls nearly all of Luhansk, the whole of Crimea, but only parts of the other three regions, which amounts to roughly one-fifth of Ukraine in total.
Putin also reiterated claims that Russian troops had encircled the Ukrainian forces in Pokrovsk and Myrnograd in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, one of the most fiercely contested sectors of the front.
“Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov are completely surrounded,” he said, using the Soviet-era Russian names for the two cities.
He added that Russian forces were also advancing in Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region and Siversk in the Donetsk region. He also claimed his troops were moving toward the key logistics hub of Hulyaipole in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The Russian offensive, he claimed, “is practically impossible to hold back, so there is little that can be done about it.”
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Ukraine has denied that Pokrovsk and Myrnograd are encircled, saying its troops continue to hold the line in the area.
US peace plan ‘basis for future agreements’
Putin also claimed that Russia is open to using the US’s so-called 28-point peace plan as a potential foundation for future talks with Kyiv and Washington.
The US-backed plan, mirroring many of Moscow’s official war goals, is believed to have originated in Moscow, according to leaked recordings. A revised version has been submitted to Moscow after talks between Kyiv and Washington.
Putin insisted there are no draft treaties yet, only “a set of questions” under discussion. According to Putin, the plan had been circulating even before the Alaska summit.
“And, as I have already announced publicly, it was passed on to us through certain channels. We got acquainted with it. After that, negotiations took place in Geneva between the American delegation and the Ukrainian delegation,” he said.
Putin said that, as he understood it, the parties agreed to split the 28 points into four separate components.
He confirmed that Russia has already received a version of the revised plan and “in general” accepts that it could serve as a basis for negotiations.
“In general, this is how it was conveyed to us. In general, we agree that this can be the basis for future agreements,” he said.
At the same time, he stressed that discussing “final options” would be “impolite,” since no final text exists yet.
He added that Washington appears to be taking Russia’s position into account – the one outlined before Anchorage and after Alaska. He said both sides will eventually need to “sit down and seriously discuss some specific things” and “put everything in diplomatic language.”
‘No aggressive plans for Europe’
Putin also claimed that Russia is willing to pledge not to attack European countries formally.
“It’s one thing to say in general that Russia is not going to attack Europe. It sounds funny to us, right? And we never intended to. If they want to hear from us, well, let’s record it. No questions,” he said.
Russia had also pledged not to invade Ukraine in 1994 via the Budapest Memorandum, which saw Ukraine relinquish its Soviet nuclear arsenal in exchange for security guarantees.
He dismissed the notion that Russia poses a threat to Europe, saying people who claim otherwise are “a little out of their minds” and are serving the interests of defense industries, private companies, or trying to boost domestic political ratings amid economic problems.
“We are not going to, and we have no aggressive plans for Europe. Please, we are ready to record it in any way you like,” Putin said.
He added that such assurances “perhaps make sense” if the goal is to start a broader discussion on “pan-European security.”
