Save articles for later

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.

Key points

• Putin fielded questions from the public, media, and frontline soldiers
• He says Russia will achieve stated goals, adding that Moscow had 617,000 Russian troops fighting in Ukraine.
• He reiterates accusation West is to blame for war, saying NATO’s expansion had forced Russia into war
• Putin rules out new wave of mobilisation in Russia for now

London: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his invasion of Ukraine will end only when he achieves his goals, indicating during a marathon four-hour press conference that he intends to keep fighting unless Kyiv capitulates.

Almost two years into the war, Putin said that he was still focused on the “denazification” and “demilitarisation” of Ukraine. He reiterated that he was open to peace talks, but offered no hint of a willingness to compromise.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia.Credit: Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

“Peace will come when we achieve our goals,” Putin said. “As for demilitarisation, if they (the Ukrainians) don’t want to come to an agreement – well, then we are forced to take other measures, including military ones.

“Either we get an agreement, agree on certain parameters… or we solve this by force. This is what we will strive for.”

The stage-managed event was the first time Putin had taken questions at length since ordering the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. There were about 600 journalists, including about a dozen Western correspondents at the event in Gostiny Dvor, a large event space just one block away from Moscow’s Red Square.

Putin also took phone-in questions from people across Russia, but many of the questions were agreed in advance with the Kremlin and reporters rarely had a chance to pose follow-up questions, while Putin answered at length.

The stage-managed event was the first time Putin had taken questions at length since ordering the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Credit: Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

He said 617,000 Russian troops were serving in Ukraine at present, nearly double the 360,000 men the Russian army had at the start of the war. He claimed they were improving their position along the entire length of the front, and a Ukrainian attempt at a counteroffensive had failed.

Putin addressed public disquiet by saying a second mobilisation of reservists to fight in Ukraine was unnecessary, reassuring Russians that there was no need to draft more men after last year’s mobilisation led to mass panic and prompted hundreds of thousands of people to flee the country.

He praised those who were mobilised in a call-up of 300,000 people in September last year, saying they had been denigrated but were “fighting in excellent fashion”, and 14 of them had been made Heroes of Russia, the country’s highest military award.

“The enemy announced a big counteroffensive. None of it worked anywhere,” Putin said. “I don’t even know why they do this. They are just sending their men out to be destroyed.”

US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives at a news conference in the White House Campus on Tuesday.Credit: AP

The longest-serving Kremlin leader since Josef Stalin, Putin announced last week that he’ll run for a fifth term as president in March elections to extend his rule to 2030. He has cast himself as the right man to continue leading Russia through a conflict that he sees as existential for its survival; Kyiv and its Western allies see the war on Ukraine as an unprovoked colonial-style land grab.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has refused to negotiate a ceasefire and accept the loss of a fifth of his country’s territory, which is currently under Russian control. 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 military and financial aid was waning, but that he believed Kyiv would keep receiving help for now. But Ukrainian optimism after inflicting a series of humiliating battlefield setbacks on Russia last year has faded recently as western resolve has started to falter.

“Ukraine produces almost nothing today, everything is coming from the west, but the free stuff is going to run out some day, and it seems it already is,” Putin said.

Putin claimed that Ukraine was running out of troops after taking heavy casualties in its counteroffensive, which failed to secure any significant territorial gains this year, and expressed confidence that Russia’s army was turning the tide.

As he spoke, questions from the public flashed up on a giant screen with some asking why everything was becoming so costly.

He apologised to a pensioner who urged him to “take mercy” on elderly Russians and reduce the cost of eggs amid soaring inflation.

“I am very sorry, please accept my apologies for that,” he said, adding that imports from Turkey and Belarus would increase supply and reduce prices.

He said the Russian economy, buffeted by Western sanctions, was set to grow by 3.5 per cent this year, but also said that annual inflation could reach 8 per cent and blamed the government for sharp rises in the price of eggs.

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.

Most Viewed in World

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article