Putin warns that Russia will extend Ukraine invasion if peace talks fail

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow will extend its invasion of Ukraine if Kyiv and its allies do not meet his maximalist demands in the strained peace talks.Speaking at an annual meeting with his top military officers, Putin said Moscow was open to ending the war diplomatically as President Trump pushes for a breakthrough in the peace discussions.

Putin, however, reiterated that Russia would make no concessions and that it would achieve its goals through military might if the negotiations fall apart.“We would prefer to do this and eliminate the root causes of the conflict through diplomacy, but if the opposing side and its foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive dialogue, Russia will achieve the liberation of its historical lands through military means,” Putin said.

The Russian strongman insisted that his army was fully capable of keeping up the offensive along the front lines, warning that his troops would be ready to expand its “buffer security zone.”Russia currently controls the vast majority of the Donbas region, but it has failed to take the defensive Donetsk Oblast, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said cannot be surrendered without security guarantees from NATO.Along with Donbas, Putin has insisted that Ukraine give up all rights to the Crimea, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The Kremlin has also called on Kyiv to significantly shrink its army and abandon any hope of joining NATO, with Putin rejecting any deal that would lead to the deployment of foreign troops inside Ukraine.Zelensky has slammed the demands as non-starters, with Kyiv and its allies expressing concerns that the conditions will leave Ukraine exposed to yet another Russian invasion in the future.

Zelensky, however, has expressed readiness to concede some land and drop his country’s bid to join NATO so long as the defense block, specifically the US, commits to providing security guarantees similar to those granted to NATO members...