President Vladimir Putin said he isn’t seeking Ukraine’s “capitulation” as a way to end the war, even as he reiterated his claim that the two countries are one people.
Russia insists on recognition of the “realities on the ground,” Putin said during a plenary discussion at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday, a reference to territory in eastern and southern Ukraine occupied by his forces.
“I consider Russians and Ukrainians as one people, and in this sense all of Ukraine is ours,” Putin continued. “We have a saying, or parable — wherever the Russian soldier treads is ours.”
Putin has repeatedly argued that Russia and Ukraine are a “single whole,” most notably in a lengthy essay on their “historical unity” published months before he ordered the February 2022 invasion that was supposed to achieve victory within days but which is now in its fourth year. Ukraine rejects his claims as an attempt to deny its sovereignty.
Putin has refused U.S. and European calls to accept a ceasefire to allow for peace negotiations, while also resuming direct talks with Ukraine last month at which the two sides have exchanged proposals to resolve the war.
Russia has set out hard-line demands for Ukraine to surrender four regions of the country’s south and east that Putin claims as Russian territory but which his troops only partly occupy.
Putin said Friday he didn’t “rule out” an attempt to capture the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy close to the border with Russia, though he said it wasn’t an objective for his military. Russia is creating a buffer zone in Ukraine’s Sumy region, he said.
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Putin also said Russia had proposals for resolving the Israel-Iran conflict that would address security concerns, though Moscow wasn’t seeking to act as a mediator. Russia’s in contact with both sides, and it also asked Israel and the U.S. to ensure the safety of Russian staff at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran, he said.
He acknowledged that he was concerned about a slide into World War III, saying “there’s a lot of conflict potential, it’s growing.”
Earlier, he told moderator Nadim Koteich that Russia and China were not striving to create a new global order but rather clearing the way for one to emerge. He and Chinese President Xi Jinping declared a “no-limits” friendship shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine.
“Russia and China are not forming a new world order,” Putin said. “We are only formalizing it.”
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