Russia can control Donbas and at the same time reach a peace agreement with Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). According to the Reuters agency, he also declared that US President Donald Trump, who is trying to mediate a peaceful solution, asked Russia for a compromise. Moscow is ready for such a step, but Kyiv must also make a compromise, noted the head of the Kremlin. Ukraine has been resisting the Russian invasion since February 2022.
“I don’t think that Kyiv is ready for compromises,” Putin said at the same time. According to him, Trump could force Kiev to make concessions, whose peace proposals the Russian president considers a possible basis for a peace agreement. He also said that the European Union cannot be a mediator in resolving the conflict, but it can help in its search.
According to Putin, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could sign a possible peace agreement with Russia on behalf of Ukraine. At the same time, however, he once again questioned the legitimacy of the head of the Ukrainian state when he said that the question of Zelensky’s presidency should be answered by lawyers. Russia has repeatedly argued that Zelensky’s mandate expires in May 2024, so he remains in office illegitimately. However, Ukrainian law prohibits holding elections during the state of war the country declared after Russia invaded it on Putin’s orders in February 2022.
“When it is relevant, we will find those in Ukraine who will sign the peace agreement,” said Putin. “We will sign the agreement with legitimate representatives, maybe even with Zelensky,” he said.
Putin told reporters that Russia has all the resources needed to achieve its military goals in Ukraine. He also said that Russian troops were advancing. “Russia has recently controlled 2,440 square kilometers in Ukraine,” he said. He noted that Russian forces are in full control of Luhansk Oblast, 85 percent control of Donetsk Oblast, and 80 percent of Zaporozhye Oblast.
The AFP agency wrote on Monday, referring to its own analysis of data provided by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), that Ukraine conquered in May back approximately 282 square kilometers, thereby reducing the area of territory occupied by Russia for the second month in a row. In April, according to AFP, the area of territory controlled by Moscow – for the first time in two and a half years – decreased by approximately 120 square kilometers.
Among other things, Putin spoke to journalists about the fact that the Ukrainian army is facing a catastrophic lack of soldiers and that Ukraine does not have cruise missiles or other weapons that Russia has at its disposal. He also mentioned about drone attackswhich Ukraine undertakes in self-defense.
“We need to strengthen our air defense system,” he said. “Unfortunately, some Ukrainian drones penetrate Russia through it,” he said. On Wednesday night, Ukraine sent several drones to St. Petersburg, where the SPIEF is being held. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, they hit important targets in the second largest Russian city, including the St. Petersburg oil terminal.
In an interview with journalists at SPIEF, Putin also returned to his earlier proposal that the former German chancellor mediate possible talks between Russia and Europe Gerhard Schröder.
“Who could be the mediator of the talks between Russia and Europe, if not former German chancellor Schröder?” Putin asked himself a question. “He is not my friend, he is a German representative,” he said of the 82-year-old Schröder.
Schröder himself, who is viewed controversially not only in Germany because of his work in Russian companies, has repeatedly called Putin his friend in the past. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the former chancellor refused to condemn Moscow’s aggression and criticized the anti-Russian sanctions.
Today, Putin called the war in Ukraine, which Russia describes as a special military operation and which is the largest armed conflict in Europe since the end of World War II, a local Ukrainian crisis. On the other hand, the Russian president considers the American-Israeli war against Iran, which was interrupted by a cease-fire, to be a global crisis. At the same time, Moscow has repeatedly talked about the war in Ukraine as an existential struggle, in which Russia defies dozens of Western countries and the North Atlantic Alliance, which support Kiev.
Putin lures Germany back to Russian gas
Russia is ready to restore gas supplies to Germany through the Nord Stream gas pipeline, Putin said. The submarine gas pipelines Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 were seriously damaged in September 2022.
Putin indicated that any resumption of supplies now depended on Berlin. He said that Germany must decide whether it wants to take Russian gas again through Nord Stream.
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which brought gas from Russia to Germany, was put into operation in 2011. Nord Stream 2 was completed in 2021, but gas never flowed through its pipeline. Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it was not put into commercial operation. Both pipelines were damaged by an explosion on September 26, 2022. Gas was also not flowing through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline at the time of the explosions, which Russia then justified as necessary maintenance.
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum will last until June 6.
Putin can stay in power until 2036. Now he said what it depends on
According to the head of the Kremlin, it is too early to talk about whether he will again run for the post of president in 2030.
Putin, who has been in power in Russia for more than a quarter of a century, recalled that the constitution gives him the opportunity to run again in 2030. In the spring of 2021, he signed an amendment to the basic law, according to which he can remain in office for two more six-year terms. The last presidential election was held in 2024, so according to the constitution, Putin could rule Russia until 2036.
“Only God knows whether you and I… will have good health to see tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and even more so if the health will last so that we can solve the tasks before us and achieve the goals we set,” Putin said in response to questions about his plans for the future.
Putin has been the President of Russia since December 31, 1999, with the exception of the years 2008 to 2012, when Dmitry Medvedev succeeded him in the Kremlin and he was the Prime Minister.
