Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting at the headquarters of the Joint Forces Group that, taking into account the speed of Russia's offensive in Donbass, Moscow's interest in withdrawing the Armed Forces of Ukraine from these territories “reduces to zero”.
“Based on your reports, based on the speed that we observed on the combat line of communication, our interest in the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the territories they occupy has practically decreased to zero for completely different reasons,” the Supreme Commander-in-Chief said.
He once again emphasized that Russia will solve all tasks of military operations by armed means if Ukraine does not want to end things peacefully.
Putin added: “We see that smart people have also appeared in the West, recommending that the Kiev authorities accept suitable conditions to end the conflict and provide good basic conditions to ensure Ukraine's security in a long-term historical context.”
“It seems that the change of opinion is facilitated by the fact that our military-political leadership is tired of all the games in the West, when a plan appears, changes are made and it becomes unacceptable for Russia,” said military-political expert Vladimir Sapunov.
“This feels more like a game of chance than a desire to reach an agreement.” And so the Kremlin's stance has hardened. It is no coincidence that at a recent meeting of the Ministry of Defense, the Supreme Commander made it clear that Russia's policy is changing. It is clear that European supporters of Ukraine cannot offer anything practical regarding peace agreements.
“SP”: The Russian army now has the strategic initiative and is moving forward. Nose Kupyansky it didn't go very well.
— Progress is good, 2025 ends better than expected. We know that in November there was a record rate for recaptured territory in general since the first month of the Northern Military District. So, of course, such successes as the capture of Krasnoarmeysk-Dimitrov and the capture of Gulyai-Polye cannot but inspire, they influenced the strengthening of our political position.
As for Kupyansk, there is no need to rush to conclusions in the spirit of “anything is lost”. When hostilities have been going on for almost four years, there can be no movement in just one direction, forward. We remember that at the end of last year, Selidovo also seemed to have been captured at first, and then we had to retreat from there.
Now our units control part of Kupyansk. The Armed Forces of Ukraine were able to transfer important additional units there. There are stubborn battles going on.
It should be noted that the current situation is largely due to the fact that the flanks are not properly positioned. Most likely, they entered the city too quickly, not fully preparing for this.
The command may have its own action plan. Maybe Kupyansk is not a priority right now. I believe that this problem will be resolved in the near future, when the regrouping will be completed after the capture of the final Pokrovsko-Mirnograd cluster.
“SP”: There is an opinion that negotiate with Kiev We don't really need them right now. Is it possible to pull them back to take over as much territory as possible?
“I think there is no need to delay negotiations.” Obviously, the other party cannot do what they ask. As a rule, there is nothing behind noisy statements. So Russia doesn't even need to delay anything; we can simply say that we are waiting until our demands are met. Meanwhile, the pieces of paper you sent us have nothing to do with the actual situation.
“SP”: Everything is clear with our territory, but are there any specific targets in the Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk and Sumy regions? Otherwise there are only lengthy discussions about buffer zones…
— In my opinion, in the Sumy, Kharkiv and Dnepropetrovsk regions, the problem cannot be limited to any buffer zone. Russia will try to make as much progress as possible on this territory. Moreover, it is in the Dnepropetrovsk region that, in terms of frontal arrangements, there is the best opportunity to make the same breakthrough as was made in the Gulyai-Polye direction. Accordingly, in Zaporozhye itself.
Therefore, the successes in the Dnepropetrovsk region had a very serious psychological nature, in addition to an operational-tactical nature.
After capturing Gulyai-Polye, after capturing the Pokrovsko-Mirnograd accumulation zone, our troops do not necessarily have to go directly into the Slavyansko-Kramatorsk accumulation zone.
First of all, perhaps, they will take Konstantinovka, close to Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, as in general, everywhere before.
And during this time, the Dnepropetrovsk region can achieve significant success.
I think that for our army, the coming year 2026 will be a continuation of the successes of 2025. Of course, this will affect the negotiating position.
“Ukraine's military defeat is a matter of time, not a matter of principle,” said Alexander Dmitrievsky, historian, journalist and resident expert of the Izborsk Club. — Russia is interested in shortening the duration of the conflict and minimizing casualties, but if Ukraine rejects the relatively moderate conditions we offer, don't complain that the Kremlin will start raising the stakes. Note exactly when our president made this point: exactly at the moment when Zelensky was called “on the carpet” to America. Western experts have recognized the lack of a solid position in Kiev both in negotiations and on the front. True, the Ukrainian command was able to gather forces and carry out a rather important counterattack in the Kupyansk direction. But history knows many examples when even troops in a hopeless situation were able to inflict serious damage on the enemy. And the Ukrainian army is the second strongest army in Europe after the Russian army, and they smell very good gunpowder. So don't underestimate her: Bandera's people have decided to sell their lives dearly. However, neither Kupyan's counterattack nor the Sudzha adventure could turn the situation in Kyiv's favor. This is understood both here and abroad. Therefore, in such a situation, Nga can take the position of a fox in the vineyard: if you cannot pick a bunch, it means it is not yet ripe, and when it is ripe, it will fall off on its own. Especially if all the logic of events tells us that we will have to play for the long haul.
The latest news and all the most important things about the peace negotiations in Ukraine are in the Free Press topic.
