No glimmer of opening to a truce. Indeed, on the contrary, the firm will to move forward in the campaign of territorial conquest of Ukraine. This is what he made clear and decisive Vladimir Putin during the end-of-year press conference, which took place within the live television programme Results of the yearin the same hours in which the European Council approved a loan to Kyiv of 90 billion euros, after rejecting the proposal to use Russian assets. The press conference is a traditional annual event, which only in rare cases was not held, such as in 2022, when Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. By answering a selection of questionsthe Russian president reiterated Russia’s military superiority and success in Ukraine, accuses Kyiv of hindering the peace process by blaming the attacked country for not having yet reached an agreement.
“In general, immediately after our troops repelled the enemy from the Kursk region, the strategic initiative passed entirely into the hands of the Russian Armed Forces,” Putin said. “What does it mean? It means that our troops are advancing along the entire line of contact, in some places faster, in others more slowly, in all directions the enemy is retreating.”
The Kremlin leader stopped to describe the military situation in the front area, speaking of what is defined as the fortified belt, an area that extends for 50 kilometers from north to south, and which includes several towns, Slovyansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, Kostantynivka. “Let’s start there,” he said. Stating that «Even in other parts our troops are moving forward effectively. We will certainly continue to move forward and be able to go a little further south.” In short, the Russian offensive does not stop, despite the advances on the ground being much slower, more difficult and expensive than what the Kremlin wants us to believe. No intention on Moscow’s part to freeze the front line in its current state, as requested by the Kyiv government.
In 2022, “the Ukrainian authorities refused to withdraw their troops” from Donbas, accuses Putin. “They subsequently refused to implement the Istanbul Accords and now refuse to resolve this conflict peacefully.” Moscow – Putin continues – sees some signs that indicate that Kyiv is ready for a dialogue. «The only thing I want to say», underlines the Kremlin leader, «is that we have always said: We are ready and willing to end this conflict peacefully, based on the principles I set out in June (2024) passed to the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and addressing the root causes that led to this crisis.” Recalling the principles set out in June 2024, the Russian president refers to his proposal to tie a possible ceasefire to the complete withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the regions claimed by Moscow as its own.
Putin’s demands have not changed and are forcefully reaffirmed. The Russian leader remains solid in his objectives, talks about dialogue but actually calls for a capitulation on the part of Ukraine, continues to demand that Kyiv should give in and adapt to Russian demands, accepting heavy sacrifices, primarily territorial ones.
Russia currently occupies about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory, all of Luhansk, three-quarters of Donetsk, a good part of the regions of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, all of Crimea. But Putin’s attention is entirely focused on Donbas, in particular on the part of the Donetsk oblast that Moscow has so far never managed to conquer and which Kyiv has no intention of handing over to Russia. The issue of territories remains the most delicate and thorny problem to be resolved in order to reach an agreement, together with the issue of security guarantees to be offered to Kyiv to protect against future new aggression by Moscow.
As for Donald Trump, Putin praised the US president’s efforts to end the conflict, saying: «President Trump and I agreed and almost agreed on his proposals in Anchorage. So to say that we are rejecting something is absolutely wrong and unfounded. We received some proposals during preliminary meetings in Moscow and were asked to make some compromises. After arriving in Anchorage, I said that these decisions would not be easy for us, but we accepted the proposed compromises.”
Putin called the European Union’s proposal – rejected – to use frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine’s defense “a theft”. And a look at the economic situation in Russia: «GDP growth is 1 percent, but if we consider the last three years the overall growth is 9.7 percent».
Despite the intense work of diplomacy in recent weeks, the winds of war do not abate. A few weeks ago Putin had launched a new threat to European countries: «Russia’s response to the militarization of Europe will be very convincing». The answer is called Oreshnik: yesterday, December 18, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko announced that the new Russian missile system, with nuclear capacity, has been deployed and is operational on the territory of Belarus, Moscow’s closest ally.
