Vladimir Putin has told Kyiv that he should quickly accept the Moscow terms or prepare for the worst, and has ominously added that Russia has barely begun its action in Ukraine.
The Russian president has also accused Western allies of fueling hostilities, accusing that “the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian.”
“It is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems to be going in that direction,” he said during a meeting with Kremlin-controlled parliamentary leaders.
“Everyone should know that, to a large extent, we haven’t started anything really yet.”
He insisted that Russia remains willing to sit down for talks to end the fighting, but that “those who refuse to do so should know that the longer it lasts, the harder it will be for them to reach an agreement with us.”
“We are hearing that they want to defeat us on the battlefield,” he added.
“Let them try.”
The Kremlin wants Kyiv to recognize Russian sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula that was annexed to Ukraine in 2014.
It also calls for the independence of Moscow-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine and acceptance of the existing situation on the ground, a reference to other land gains it has made since troops invaded on February 24. .
After failing to capture Kyiv and other major cities in northeastern Ukraine early in the campaign, the Russian military shifted its focus to the eastern industrial heart of Ukraine, the Donbas, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian troops since 2014.
Earlier this week, the Russian army claimed control of Luhansk province, one of the two regions that make up Donbas, and is preparing to push its offensive into the second, the Donetsk region.
Key developments:
• Ukraine’s flag flies over Snake Island again • Western artillery works “very powerfully,” says President Zelenskyy • Representatives of G20 countries, including Russia, gather in Bali • Intense drums at the front in Donetsk, but no progress by either side, says the UK Ministry of Defense • Ukraine considers the “betrayal” is that giving up the territory “is not an option”, says the mayor of Kyiv
In the early stages of the conflict, Russia gained control of the southern Kherson region and part of neighboring Zaporizhzhia.
Moscow is expected to finally try to cut Ukraine from its Black Sea coast to the Romanian border.
Putin reaffirmed his long-standing claim that the West is using the conflict in Ukraine to try to isolate and weaken Russia.
“They just don’t need a country like Russia,” he said.
“That’s why they have used terrorism, separatism and destructive forces inside our country.”
He accused Western sanctions against Russia of failing to achieve their goal of “sowing division and conflict in our society and demoralizing our people.”
Follow the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or Spreaker
Read more: Hitting, hitting, hitting, destroying: Russia’s terrifying tactics in the Donbas What will happen in the Donbas now that Luhansk has fallen in Russia?
“The course of history is unstoppable and the collective West’s attempts to enforce its version of the global order are doomed to failure.”
However, the chief negotiator of Ukraine, Mykhailo Podolyak, rejected these claims.
“There is no plan for a ‘collective West.’ Only a specific Z army that entered sovereign Ukraine, bombing cities and killing civilians,” he tweeted.
“Everything else is primitive propaganda. That’s why Putin’s mantra of ‘war to the last Ukrainian’ is further proof of deliberate Russian genocide.”