Vladimir Putin says Russia won't 'give in to anyone' as he publicly addresses war with Ukraine
Russian leader Vladimir Putin spoke today on the sort of peace deal he might be looking for over the war with Ukraine.
There are efforts to strike a ceasefire agreement between Russia and the nation it has been invading for the past three years, and if such an agreement can be secured then Ukraine is hoping for security guarantees to ward off future Russian aggression.
As such, the terms of any such ceasefire are going to be difficult to work out and Putin has spoken about what he wants from such a deal.
The BBC reports that while speaking to mothers and widows of Russian soldiers he said: "We must win such a version of peace which would suit us and which ensure calm for our country for a long historical perspective.
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"We don’t want anything that belongs to others, but we won’t give away anything that belongs to us. We need the option that would ensure our country’s stable development under conditions of peace and security.”
Considering he's invaded Ukraine and taken part of their territory, his idea of what 'belongs to' Russia is likely to be rather different than the Ukrainian perspective on things.
When the dictator was told that Russia 'shouldn't give in to anyone', Putin responded that 'we are not going to do that', so it would appear to be a sign that he's not looking to make concessions at potential talks over peace.
Such concessions would instead have to come from Ukraine, likely meaning they'd have to surrender territory.
Elsewhere in Russia, their foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said that the Kremlin rejected the possibility that fighting could stop on a temporary basis.
She said that 'firm agreements on a final settlement are needed' and said that without it a pause in the fighting would be 'unacceptable'.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country wanted peace 'but not at the cost of giving up Ukraine'.
The Ukrainian position in trying to repel the invasion of their country has taken a turn for the worse recently as the new Trump administration paused military aid shipments to them.
US officials have said that Donald Trump is focused on 'peace', though for Ukraine, peace on Russia's terms is far more of a surrender after three years of fighting off Putin's invasion.
The US decision to pause assistance for Ukraine was very much welcomed by Russia, while under Trump's direction the Americans have also cut off intelligence support for the Ukrainian military as well.
Other European nations have been holding talks on how they might be able to fill the void left by a pause in US support as the Russian attacks continue, with drone strikes killing four people and wounding many more after a hotel where humanitarian aid workers were staying was struck.
Topics: Russia, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Joe Harker