Putin says Russia will continue push to capture four Ukrainian regions, rejects Kyiv's cease-fire proposal

President Vladimir Putin told a Russian state-television interview on Sunday that Moscow will keep advancing its objective of fully controlling the four Ukrainian regions it annexed last year, and will not be swayed by Kyiv's recent proposal to suspend long-range attacks. He said the proposal was intended to ease pressure on Ukrainian forces along the 1,250-km front line and would not distract Russia from its goals.

Putin added that Russia must quickly expand production of air-defence systems to counter what he described as intensified Ukrainian drone strikes targeting Russian oil infrastructure. He acknowledged that the attacks had caused fuel shortages in several Russian regions but claimed the country was managing the situation.

The Russian leader argued that Ukrainian strikes aim to divert Russian attention from the “complete liberation of Donbas and Novorossiya,” referring to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of the Donbas and the adjacent Kherson and Zaporizhzhia areas. He reiterated that Ukraine must abandon its remaining positions in Donetsk as a precondition for any peace settlement.

Putin said Russia expects a renewal of U.S.-led diplomatic initiatives once the “hot phase” of the Israel-Iran conflict subsides, and mentioned a possible visit by U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. He noted that no formal agreement emerged from his 2023 talks with former U.S. President Donald Trump, but that “certain possibilities” for ending the war had been discussed.

The president also suggested that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko could play a role in future peace talks, without addressing Ukrainian concerns about Belarus’s involvement in the conflict.