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He also said, that “the whole of Ukraine is ours”.
He also said, that “the whole of Ukraine is ours”.
What is happening?
Over the weekend, the St. Petersburg Inernational Economic Forum (SPIEF) took place in St. Petersburg, with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin being the most prominent speaker.
“The whole of Ukraine is ours”
Friday evening, Putin was on the stage, and he repeated his claim that Russians and Ukrainians are one people:
“In that sence, the whole of Ukraine is ours,” he said according to Reuters.
Not questioning indepence
After eight years of fighting in Easter Ukraine, Putin send hundreds of thousands of troops into Ukraine in Februaru of 2022, starting a full-scale invasion.
But even though he invaded Ukraine, Putin does not question Ukrainian independence, he said.
Questions neutrality
Instead, Putin insists that, when Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine also declared neutrality.
Putin has put as one of it’s key terms for peace, that Ukraine must never be allowed to becom a member of NATO and shall forever be a neutral country.
Ukraine must “accept reality”
When doing a Q&A, Putin explained that Ukraine does not have to surrender for the figthing to end.
But he emphazised that Moscow wanted Kiyv to accept the “reality on the ground”, if there was to be any hope of peace.
Controls 1/5 of Ukraine
Currently, Russia is in control of about 20 % of Ukraine’s territory, if yolu include the Crimean Peninsula.
Part of Russia’s demands for a peace deal is that Ukraine recogninze the five regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Crimea and Zaporizhzhia as Russian, as Russia has annexed them.
Ukraine has repeatedly denied this.
“Where the foot of a Russian soldier steps …”
Putin then went on to use use a Russian parable for the situation in Ukraine:
“Where the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours.”
Shows complete disdain for peace, Ukraine says
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X, that the statements from Putin at the SPIEF showed “complete disdain for US peace efforts.”
Wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, “he brings along only death, destruction, and devastation,” Sybiha said.
Sumy Russia’s next target?
There have been reports of Russian military build up along the Northern border of Ukraine, sparking fear that Russia will launch a new offensive in the North this summer.
Putin said Russian forces were carving out a buffer zone in the Sumy region in order to protect Russian territory.
“Next is the city of Sumy, the regional centre. We don’t have the task of taking it, but in principle I don’t rule it out,” he said according to Reuters.