Putin says Russia will take Donbas by force or Ukraine’s troops will withdraw

Either Ukrainian forces will withdraw from the country’s eastern Donbas region or Russia will seize it, President Vladimir Putin said, rejecting any compromise on the main obstacle to ending the Ukrainian war.

“Either we take back these territories by force, or the Ukrainian forces will eventually withdraw,” Putin told India Today.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out ceding territory, whether under Russia’s control or not.

Putin’s comments come after President Donald Trump said his negotiators believe the Russian leader “wants to end the war” after talks in Moscow on Tuesday.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, who led the US side in the talks, is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian negotiators in Florida.

Trump said the talks were “reasonably good,” adding that it was too early to say what would happen because “it takes two people to tango.”

Russian forces now control about 85% of the Donbas region. The original iteration of the US peace plan Proposal for handing over the areas From Donbass still under Ukrainian control to Putin’s effective control.

In his interview with India Today ahead of a state visit to Delhi, Putin also said that Moscow does not agree with parts of the US plan.

“Sometimes we said yes, we can discuss this matter, but we cannot agree on it,” Putin said.

He did not mention the sticking points. At least two important points remain in dispute: the fate of Ukrainian territories seized by Russian forces and security guarantees for Ukraine.

Putin said Moscow had not seen a revised version of the US peace plan before his nearly five-hour talks with Witkov and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

“That’s why we had to review every point, and that’s why it took so long,” Putin said.

Putin’s chief foreign policy advisor and key negotiator Yuri Ushakov said earlier that the Kremlin talks had not resulted in “any settlement” on ending the war.

Ushakov also noted that Russia’s negotiating position had been strengthened thanks to what Moscow said were its recent battlefield successes.

But Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sepia accused Putin of “wasting the world’s time,” while Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States said that they “do not need to wait for promises from Russia.”

Zelensky insisted on strict security guarantees for Ukraine in any agreement.

He said on Wednesday that “the world clearly feels that there is a real opportunity to end the war,” but negotiations must be “backed by pressure on Russia,” which Kiev and its European allies accuse of deliberately disrupting any ceasefire agreements.

Zelensky previously said his top negotiators were able to make some key changes to the original US peace plan – which is seen as very favorable to Moscow – during talks last week with a US delegation in Geneva.

It was stated in a joint statement by American and Ukrainian negotiators They said they had established an “updated and revised framework for peace.” – But no further details were provided.

Senior negotiators from Europe – who had expressed concern about the original US plan – were also in the Swiss city, meeting separately with the Ukrainian and American teams.

In a separate development on Thursday, German news website Der Spiegel said it had obtained a confidential transcript of a conference call in which European leaders expressed concern about the US negotiations.

“There is a possibility that the United States will betray Ukraine on the territorial issue without clarification on security guarantees,” French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly said, according to an English-language transcript of a conference call on Monday.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was quoted as warning that Zelensky should be “extremely careful in the coming days.”

“They’re playing with us and with you,” Mears reportedly said.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb was also quoted as saying: “We must not leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these people.”

The BBC was unable to view the reported text.

In response to Der Spiegel’s inquiry, France’s Elysee Palace stated that “the president did not express himself in these terms.” The presidential office refused to provide details about how Macron expressed his opinion, under the pretext of confidentiality.

Stapp declined to comment to Der Spiegel, and Merz did not comment on this case.

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.

Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory.

In recent weeks, Russian forces have been slowly advancing into southeastern Ukraine, despite reports of heavy casualties in the fighting.