Ukrainian sovereignty, worsening positions and ‘final mistake’: Key takeaways from Putin’s Q&A

The Russian president repeatedly touched on the Ukraine conflict during the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

Moscow is not seeking the unconditional surrender of Ukraine, but wants it to acknowledge the realities on the ground, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said at SPIEF 2025, commenting on various aspects of the Ukraine conflict, Russia’s goals, and potential directions for resolving the crisis.

Putin took part in the plenary session of the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2025) on Friday, delivering a major speech and conducting a Q&A session. Here are the key takeaways regarding the Ukraine conflict:

Ukrainian surrender

Asked whether Moscow expects an “unconditional surrender” from Kiev – similar to the demand his US counterpart, Donald Trump, is making of Iran – Putin said this is not the case, reiterating Russia’s readiness to resolve the conflict through diplomacy.

“We are not seeking the surrender of Ukraine. We insist on recognition of the realities that have developed on the ground.”

Worsening negotiation positions

Russia has consistently attempted to settle the conflict in the former Ukrainian Donbass, which erupted after the Western-backed 2014 Maidan coup, through diplomatic means, the president said. However, these efforts were repeatedly undermined by Kiev and its backers.

“At each stage, we suggested to those with whom we were in contact in Ukraine to stop and said, ‘Let’s negotiate now. Because this logic of purely military actions can result in your situation getting worse, and then we will have to conduct our negotiations from other positions, from positions that are worse for you.’ This happened several times,” Putin said.

Foreign-fueled conflict

Negotiations held in Istanbul in early 2022, shortly after the conflict escalated, fell apart under pressure from the same “neocolonial forces,” Putin added.

“Those who are guided by old, neocolonial principles, including and above all in Europe, thought that now they would easily profit at the expense of Russia: crush it, destroy it, annihilate it, and receive some dividends from this.”

Ukraine’s sovereignty

Russia has never denied Ukraine’s right to exist as an independent nation, Putin said. However, in the years since the Soviet Union’s collapse, the country has drifted from the principles on which it originally gained its independence.

“The grounds on which Ukraine became independent and sovereign were set out in the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine of 1991, where it is clearly written in black and white that Ukraine is a non-aligned, non-nuclear, neutral state. It would be a good idea to return to these fundamental values on which Ukraine gained its independence and sovereignty,” he said.

At the same time, Putin reiterated his belief that, in a certain sense, all of Ukraine is Russian. “I have said many times that I consider Russians and Ukrainians to be one people, in fact. In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours.”

Going nuclear would be Kiev’s ‘final mistake’

Obtaining and using a nuclear device of any sort, including a dirty bomb, would be the “final mistake” for Kiev, the Russian president warned. This would trigger a mirror response from Moscow with “catastrophic” consequences for Ukraine, he said.

“Our response will be very harsh and, most likely, catastrophic for both the neo-Nazi regime and, unfortunately, for Ukraine itself. I hope that they will never come to that,” Putin stated, adding that Moscow currently has no intelligence suggesting that Kiev is attempting to do so.

Ukrainian military thinned out

Ukrainian forces are suffering from severe manpower shortages, with units at only 47% strength on average, Putin stated. He said Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s Kursk Region last August – driven by political rather than military reasoning – worsened the situation and further stretched its forces along an expanded frontline.

“They got into Kursk Region. First of all, they lost 76,000 people there. It was a disaster for them,” Putin said. “In the end, as we said, we drove them out of there, but they created a threat to us... along the entire line of the border with Ukraine, in two other neighboring regions,” he added.

Kiev’s actions created an additional 1,600km line of contact, he said. “They pulled apart all their armed forces. It is hard to imagine bigger stupidity from a military point of view.”

Russian troops could go deeper into Ukraine

Putin did not rule out the possibility of advancing further into Ukrainian territory to establish a buffer zone to protect Russian border areas from further attacks.

Following the defeat of Ukrainian forces in Kursk, Russian troops moved into Ukraine’s Sumy Region. According to Putin, the buffer zone there is already up to 12km deep.

“We don’t have the goal of taking Sumy, but in principle, I don’t rule it out,” he said.

Ukrainian sovereignty, worsening positions and ‘final mistake’: Key takeaways from Putin’s Q&A

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