While Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claims to agree with Donald Trump that negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine are in their final phase, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin hardened his military rhetoric this Monday (29). In a televised meeting with Russian army commanders, Putin reaffirmed his intention to fully capture Ukrainian regions whose annexation he announced in 2022.
“The goal of liberating the Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions is being carried out in stages in accordance with the plan of the special military operation. The troops are advancing with confidence,” he said.
The dictator stated that, after capturing the cities of Pokrovsk and Mirnograd, Russian forces eliminated Ukrainian troops surrounded in that area and, simultaneously, “developed an offensive in the direction of state borders”, referring to the border of the annexed region of Donetsk with Ukrainian territory. In this sense, he emphasized that the prospects for conquering the entire Donbas territory are good.
The head of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General Valery Gerasimov, also pointed out that Kiev is not carrying out offensive actions in any of the sectors of the front. “They have focused their efforts on strengthening their defenses and are trying to slow down our advance through counterattacks in specific areas and the massive use of drones,” Gerasimov told Putin at the meeting.
Putin’s meeting with senior military officials comes amid preparations for his second phone call with US President Donald Trump, which will take place “very soon”, the Kremlin confirmed this morning.
Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Florida on Sunday (28). Both signaled progress towards a peace agreement, although without concluding any pact and acknowledging that “thorny issues” still need to be resolved.
Zaporizhzhia
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, is occupied by Russia as part of the Russian invasion that began in February 2022. Estimates compiled by the American academic project Russia Matters, linked to Harvard University, indicate that Russia controls around 20% of Ukrainian territory (including the Crimean peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014) after an invasion that will complete four years in February.
This Monday, Zelensky indicated that Zaporizhzhia, in southeastern Ukraine, and the territories currently occupied by Russia are the pending points in the peace plan he discussed with Trump on Sunday.
“There remain two outstanding issues: the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, how it will work, and the issue of territories,” he said, in statements reproduced by the Ukrainian agency Ukrinform.
“There are two issues that remained pending in the 20-point document. That’s why I said that the plan is 90% ready, because there is no agreement on two points”, added the Ukrainian leader.
