MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin vowed on Thursday to fight on in Ukraine until Moscow secures the country’s demilitarisation, “denazification” and neutrality, unless Kyiv accepts a deal that achieves those goals.
Fielding questions from the public, media and at one point frontline soldiers, Putin took an uncompromising stance on Ukraine at a four-hour press conference held as he seeks another six-year presidential term in March.
Putin, now 71, told Russians his initial goals in Ukraine had not changed and that Russian forces had taken the initiative on the battlefield in the “special military operation” he launched on February 24, 2022. “Practically along the entire line of contact, our armed forces are, shall we say, modestly improving their position. Virtually all are in an active stage of action,” Putin said.
Since the start of the war, Kyiv has stepped up its pursuit of NATO and European Union membership, steps that it regards as vital for its self-defence and independence from Russia but are opposed by Moscow. Putin reiterated his view that the Western military alliance’s eastward expansion was the main cause of the war – a view dismissed by the West, which sees Putin as the aggressor.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed or wounded in Ukraine, and millions have been forced from their homes. Putin said he had detected signs that Western enthusiasm for providing Ukraine with military and financial aid was waning, but that he believed Kyiv would keep receiving help for now. He said NATO’s eastward expansion had forced Russia into war.