Russian President Vladimir Putin assured Tuesday that the Ukrainian state risks suffering an “irreparable blow” if the conflict continues, saying that the initiative on the front is now “entirely” in favor of Moscow’s forces.
“Not only has their counter-offensive failed, but the initiative is entirely in the hands of the Russian armed forces. If this continues, Ukraine’s statehood could suffer an irreparable and very serious blow,” Putin said in a meeting broadcast on television.
He once again accused Ukraine of “refusing to negotiate” an end to the conflict with Moscow.
According to him, Moscow and kyiv had “agreed on everything” during talks in Istanbul in 2022, at the very beginning of the conflict, before the Ukrainian delegation “threw all the agreements in the trash” that had been agreed .
According to Mr. Putin, the British Prime Minister at the time, Boris Johnson, then “persuaded” kyiv to refuse to negotiate with Moscow and to continue hostilities.
He further considered that the “peace formula” promoted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which notably provides for the return of all territories occupied by Russia and the creation of an international tribunal, included “prohibitive demands for the negotiation process”.
More than 80 countries debated in Switzerland on Sunday to find common ground on this formula, without Russia.
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