Vladimir Putin has doubled down on his insistence that Russia won’t hand over any occupied territory as a part of peace negotiations with Ukraine.
Mr Putin was referring to referendums held by Russian officers in 2022 in 4 annexed areas of Ukraine, and in Crimea.
These referendums, which had been described as “shams” by the UK’s international secretary on the time, noticed all 4 areas vote to hitch Russia.
“The will of the people is what [we] call democracy,” stated Mr Putin.
He stated that he hopes Ukraine’s management might be “guided by national interests” in negotiations, relatively than by the “interests of its sponsors”.
These sponsors, he stated, “are not interested in ending the conflict, but in using Ukraine for their own selfish political purposes”.
On Friday, the Russian president informed enterprise leaders in St Petersburg: “I’ve stated many instances that I take into account the Russian and Ukrainian individuals to be one nation.
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Putin pushes laborious on Ukraine once more
“In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours.”
He additionally threatened a nuclear strike on Ukraine for the primary time in months, promising “catastrophic” penalties if Kyiv used a grimy bomb in opposition to Russian forces.
“This would be a colossal mistake on the part of those whom we call neo-Nazis on the territory of today’s Ukraine,” he stated.
“It could be their last mistake. We always respond and respond in kind. Therefore, our response will be very tough.
“Ukraine deserves a greater destiny than being an instrument within the geopolitical battle of those that try for confrontation with the Russian Federation.”
On Saturday morning, Russia claimed to have captured a small village named Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine’s Donetsk area.
Ivan Fedorov, head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Navy Administration, posted on Telegram saying that greater than 200 Russian UAVs focused the area on Friday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated Kyiv was now in talks with Denmark, Norway, Germany, Canada, the UK and Lithuania to begin joint weapons manufacturing.
He urged Kyiv’s companions to supply 0.25% of their GDP to finance the manufacturing of Ukraine’s weapons.
