Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will defeat Ukraine on the battlefield if necessary, but added that a proposal put forward by U.S. President Donald Trump could help form the basis for ending the war.
Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 4, Putin claimed that Russia has the advantage in manpower, industrial capacity, and "willpower," and insisted Moscow is prepared to keep fighting until its objectives are met.
He argued that Russian forces can continue advancing and capturing Ukrainian cities even if progress is slower than Moscow would like, portraying a Russian victory as inevitable if negotiations do not succeed, according to Reuters.
Putin also described ongoing Russian attacks along the front line, saying offensive operations are taking place every day.
He said Russia now has complete control over the territory it calls the Luhansk People's Republic, controls more than 85% of the area it designates as the Donetsk People's Republic, and holds about 80% of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, referring to three of the four regions Moscow claimed to annex in 2022 in a move rejected by Ukraine and most Western governments as illegal.
At the same event, Putin said Russia was "certainly ready and willing" to move toward a settlement with Ukraine through diplomacy rather than continued fighting.
He said Moscow is prepared to abide by what he described as compromises previously discussed with Trump, but emphasized that Ukraine would also need to accept these terms for the conflict to be brought to a swift conclusion, The Star reported.
Putin said Trump's proposals "may well be the basis for peace agreements" and characterized them as a package that would require concessions from both Russia and Ukraine. He added that Russia had "generally agreed" to these compromises and that the main challenge, from his perspective, is persuading Kyiv to sign on.
According to reporting on Trump's 28-point plan, the proposal would require Ukraine to give up control of parts of its eastern regions, accept Russian control of Crimea, and drop its ambition to join NATO.
The plan also envisages freezing front lines in parts of the south, reducing the size of Ukraine's armed forces, and directing roughly $100 billion in frozen Russian assets, alongside large European funding, toward Ukraine's reconstruction, as per the New York Times.
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