Putin says Russia ready to take Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region ‘by force’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said caller talks with United States negotiators implicit ending the warfare with Ukraine were “very useful”, portion doubling down connected the maximalist demands and territorial designs that are lasting successful the mode of a solution.

In beforehand of a travel to New Delhi connected Thursday, Putin told India Today TV that helium planned to prehend power of Ukraine’s eastbound Donbas portion by force, confirming Kremlin reports that no consensus had been reached successful the erstwhile day’s talks with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

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“It each boils down to this: either we volition liberate these territories by force, oregon Ukrainian troops volition permission these territories and halt warring there,” helium said successful comments from the interrogation that were carried by authorities quality bureau Tass connected Thursday.

Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine successful February 2022 aft 8 years of warring betwixt Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops successful the Donbas, comprising the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

His renewed determination to instrumentality the portion appeared to determination acold h2o connected US President Donald Trump’s earlier assertion that Witkoff and Kushner had thought the Russian person wanted “to extremity the war”.

“Their content was precise powerfully that he’d similar to marque a deal,” Trump said.

Putin’s comments came amid reports that peculiar envoy Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Kushner volition conscionable apical Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov successful Florida connected Thursday arsenic a follow-up to the 5 hours of talks successful Moscow connected Tuesday.

Embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has been bogged down by Russia’s beforehand and a home corruption scandal, maintains that helium does not person the powerfulness to motion distant Ukrainian territory and that Russia should, successful immoderate case, not beryllium rewarded for its invasion. The Ukrainian constitution besides forbids the ceding of territory.

28-point program ‘still valid’

In discussions with the US implicit the outline of a imaginable bid woody to extremity the war, Russia has repeatedly said it wants power implicit the full Donbas and that Washington should informally recognise Moscow’s control.

The Kremlin communicative appeared to person been successful the ascendancy erstwhile Trump released his 28-point program to extremity the war, which initially envisioned Ukraine ceding the full Donbas, limiting the size of its military, and giving up connected joining NATO.

But pursuing aggravated disapproval of what galore saw arsenic a Moscow privation list, Ukrainian negotiators pushed for revisions during talks successful Geneva, Switzerland, paring backmost the archetypal draught to 19 points.

It was unclear pursuing the Moscow talks which mentation of the draught had been discussed. Putin’s adjutant Yury Ushakov had earlier said respective documents were being discussed.

Paraphrasing Putin’s comments to India Today, Tass said the 28-point program was “still valid and being discussed” and based connected agreements reached during the Russia-US acme successful Alaska successful August.

“They conscionable broke these 28 oregon 27 points into 4 packages. And they projected discussing these 4 packages with us. But, successful effect, they are the aforesaid [points],” Putin said, according to Tass.

Russian attacks continue

Russian attacks connected civilian areas of Ukraine continued overnight into Thursday.

A ballistic rocket struck Kryvyi Rih connected Wednesday night, injuring six people, including a three-year-old girl, according to metropolis medication caput Oleksandr Vilkul.

Vilkul said the onslaught damaged much than 40 residential buildings, a schoolhouse and home state pipes successful the city, Zelenskyy’s hometown.

A six-year-old miss died successful Kherson, a confederate larboard city, aft Russian artillery shelling injured her the erstwhile day.

Russia besides struck Odesa with drones, injuring 8 people, portion civilian and vigor infrastructure was damaged, said the caput of the determination subject administration, Oleh Kiper.

On Thursday, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of disrupting bid talks with attacks connected lipid tankers successful the Black Sea and connected the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal successful Novorossiysk.

Russia presently controls 19.2 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it annexed successful 2014, each of Luhansk, much than 80 percent of Donetsk, astir 75 percent of Kherson and Zaporizhia, and slivers of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to the Reuters quality agency.

Ukraine’s service main said connected Thursday that Ukrainian troops continued to clasp the bluish portion of the cardinal metropolis of Pokrovsk successful Donetsk.

About 5,000sq km (1,900sq miles) of Donetsk remains nether Ukrainian control.