Putin believes Russia’s economy and military are strong enough to withstand any
additional Western measures, the sources told the Reuters news agency.
by TVP World
Russia's President Vladimir Putin gives a speech during the extended format meeting of the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 23, 2024. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / POOL / AFP)
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, intends to keep fighting in Ukraine until the West engages on his terms for peace,
and his territorial demands may widen his forces advance, three sources close to the Kremlin claim.
Putin believes Russia’s economy and military are strong enough to withstand any additional Western measures,
the sources told the Reuters news agency.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump expressed frustration with Putin’s refusal to agree on a ceasefire and announced a wave of weapons supplies to Ukraine,
including Patriot surface-to-air missile systems. He also threatened further sanctions on Russia unless a peace deal was reached within 50 days.
The Reuters report said the three Russian sources are familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking.
They claim Putin will not stop the war under pressure from the West and believe Russia can endure further economic hardship,
including threatened US tariffs targeting buyers of Russian oil.
“Putin thinks no one has seriously engaged with him on the details of peace in Ukraine—including the Americans—so he will continue until he gets what he wants,”
one of the sources said on condition of anonymity.
Demands unchanged
Despite several telephone calls between Trump and Putin, and visits to Russia by US special envoy Steve Witkoff,
the Russian leader believes there have not been detailed discussions of the basis for a peace plan, the source said.
“Putin values the relationship with Trump and had good discussions with Witkoff, but the interests of Russia come above all else,” the person added.
Putin’s conditions for peace include a legally binding pledge that NATO will not expand eastwards, Ukrainian neutrality and limits on its armed forces,
protection for Russian speakers who live there, and acceptance of Russia’s territorial gains, the sources said.
He is also willing to discuss a security guarantee for Ukraine involving major powers, though it is far from clear how this would work, the sources said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine will never recognize Russia’s sovereignty over its conquered regions and that Kyiv retains the
sovereign right to decide whether it wants to join NATO.
‘Appetite’ for more land
Two of the sources claimed that Russia has the upper hand on the battlefield.“Appetite comes with eating,”
the first source said, meaning that Putin could seek more territory before the war ends. The two other sources independently confirmed the same.
Putin could fight on until Ukraine’s defenses collapse and widen his territorial ambitions to include more of Ukraine, the sources said.
“Russia will act based on Ukraine’s weakness,” the third source said, adding that Moscow might halt its offensive after conquering the four eastern regions of
Ukraine if it encounters stiff resistance. “But if it falls, there will be an even greater conquest of Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, and Kharkiv.”
Zelenskyy has stated that Russia’s summer offensive is not progressing as successfully as Moscow had hoped. His top brass,
who acknowledge that Russian forces outnumber Ukraine’s, say Kyiv’s troops are holding the line and forcing Russia to pay a heavy price for its gains.
Trump and Putin
Trump, who promised a swift end to the war during his presidential election campaign, has sought to develop ties with Russia,
speaking at least six times by telephone with Putin. On Monday, he said the Russian leader was not “an assassin,
but he’s a tough guy.”In an abrupt break from his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden,
Trump’s administration has withdrawn support for Ukraine joining NATO and floated the idea of recognizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Putin portrays the war as a watershed moment in Moscow’s relations with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
He has yet to accept a proposal from Trump for an unconditional ceasefire, which Kyiv quickly endorsed.
Recent days have seen Russia use hundreds of drones to attack Ukrainian cities.
However, Trump told the BBC in an interview published on Tuesday that he was not done with Putin and that a Ukraine deal remained on the cards.
But one of the sources said there was likely to be an escalation of the crisis in coming months and unscored the dangers of tensions
between the world’s two largest nuclear powers. And, he predicted, the war would continue.
