Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published on Thursday (4 December) that Russia would take full control of Ukraine’s Donbas region either by military or other means.
Putin made these remarks to news agency India Today ahead of a visit to New Delhi on Thursday (4 December) where he will be hosted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Either we liberate these territories by force of arms, or Ukrainian troops leave these territories.”
The Russian President also disclosed in the interview that Kyiv was requested to pull back Ukrainian armed forces from Donbas but opted to continue hostilities.
“We immediately told Ukraine, the Ukrainian troops: the people do not want to live with you, they held a referendum and voted for independence — withdraw your troops, and there will be no military actions. No, they prefer the path of armed confrontation,” he said, to the news outlet.
Meanwhile Putin called the dialogue with U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Kremlin on Tuesday (2 December), “very useful” and added that it lasted five hours.
“What our U.S. colleagues brought us was based one way or another on our agreements from my meeting with President Trump in Alaska, as we discussed these issues at the meeting in Anchorage,” the Russian President said.
Peace plan
Vladimir Putin reiterated his belief that U.S. President Donald Trump is sincerely trying to find a consensus solution to the Ukrainian problem, but that “is no easy feat.”
He added that while a 28-point peace plan drafted by the United States earlier is still valid and being discussed, Washington has proposed breaking it into four separate packages.
“They just broke these 28 or 27 points into four packages. And they proposed discussing these four packages with us. But, in effect, they are the same points,” Putin said.
Earlier on Tuesday (2 December), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the updated version of the peace plan now contains 20 points instead of 28 in the initial draft. The revisions were made after discussions in Geneva with Kyiv's European allies, together with Ukrainian and American officials on 23-24 November, and previously in Florida with U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators on Monday (1 December).
Claims of liberation
In 2022, Russia declared Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia part of its territory following referenda on 30 September, dismissed by Kyiv and the West as illegitimate.
Most countries continue to recognise these regions, along with Crimea, as part of Ukraine.
Currently, Russia claims to control roughly 19.2% of Ukraine, including Crimea, all of Luhansk, more than 80% of Donetsk, about 75% of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and smaller parts of Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
According to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio the Russia-Ukraine war is now about the 20% - or just over 5,000 square km (1,900 square miles) of Donetsk that Russia does not control but wants.
Yemen’s Houthis have claimed responsibility for the recent drone and missile strikes on Saudi Aramco facilities in Dhahran and Riyadh and at ...
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, met on 14 October to discuss bilateral ties and key regional and inte...
Afghan authorities suspended BBC FM radio broadcasts nationwide on Tuesday (13 October), citing repeated but unspecified violations. The BBC said i...
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said late Monday that it intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi group toward Khamis Mushait in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
Yemen’s Houthis have claimed responsibility for the recent drone and missile strikes on Saudi Aramco facilities in Dhahran and Riyadh and at King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia, vowing to carry out more attacks in the coming days.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia hit at least six energy targets in deadly strikes across Ukraine, showing Moscow is unwilling to accept the energy ceasefire announced by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Thousands of young Georgians leave the country each year in search of better economic opportunities, with many moving west. As questions grow over Georgia’s European path, AnewZ spoke to people who have emigrated about what it would take for them to return.
Ukraine's soldiers have had their access to Starlink satellite internet restricted. Kyiv's troops use the terminals, made by Elon Musk's SpaceX, to pilot drones. A source in Ukraine's Defence Ministry said the restrictions would make it harder for Kyiv's army to down Russian drones.
Ukraine's soldiers have had their access to Starlink satellite internet restricted. Kyiv's troops use the terminals, made by Elon Musk's SpaceX, to pilot drones. A source in Ukraine's Defence Ministry said the restrictions would make it harder for Kyiv's army to down Russian drones.
A 62-year-old man died on Wednesday after floodwaters swept his car into the sea on the Greek island of Rhodes, as torrential rain flooded roads, stranded vehicles and disrupted transport across the island.
A failure by the U.S. and Iran to reach an agreement on a UN-backed fertiliser shipping plan for the Strait of Hormuz within weeks could trigger a food security crisis in parts of Asia and Africa, a senior UN official has warned.
Pope Leo has been diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer, after surgeons removed the lower lobe of his right lung. The Vatican says the tumour was detected during a routine health check, but its stage and whether it has spread remain unknown.
Greek students braved heavy rain to pitch tents outside parliament in Athens on Tuesday, demanding affordable housing and more education funding as rising living costs put university places beyond the reach of some students.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment