Vladimir Putin’s news conference reveals Russia received 2.5 million journalist questions, with peace and war dominating, framing Ukraine’s conflict as rooted in the 2014 coup and Kyiv’s actions in Donbas. Military gains near Slovyansk, Konstantinovka (50% captured), and Krasnoyarmiesk signal progress, while 15 Ukrainian battalions (3,500 soldiers) are trapped in encircled regions like Dmitrov and Kupyansk. Putin acknowledges Trump’s past mediation attempts but blames Kyiv and Western backers for stalling talks, insisting Russia seeks dialogue. Sanctions on firms like NIS in Serbia were addressed, and NATO expansion was dismissed as a threat, pushing instead for a new European security framework—hinting at deeper geopolitical shifts if diplomacy fails. [Automatically generated summary]
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Coming up, Russian President Vladimir Putin taking questions from journalists at his end-of-the-scenes during this portion of the event, President Putin spoke about the ongoing war with Ukraine, relations with the United States, and the impact of sanctions on Russia's economy.
I'll remind you that we will receive the applications and questions until the end of the program.
You can either use the phone number 8800-20040-40, send an SMS or an MMS to Zoom4040 or use the social media of contacting the Klosniki or use the website moscoputin.rf or use the chatbot on MaxMessenger used for the first time.
unidentified
And this is a very, very popular channel today.
Now we have more than 2.5 million questions.
And we're about to begin asking President Putin questions.
And just a couple of words, Ikatina and I have sifted through tens of thousands of your questions from all across Russia, from abroad.
And of course, out of these two million questions, there are messages from different people.
Understandably, many of these topics are overlapping.
And we've tried to systematize, to classify the questions to make sure that we cover the topics that are of relevance to millions of people.
And understandably, there is one topic that is of the greatest importance to everyone.
There are many issues and questions on social policies, but in the forefront are the issues of peace and war.
You've said on multiple occasions that we are okay with how the things are going at the battlefront, but is it going to be peace or is it going to be continuation given what Zelensky is saying?
So far we're not seeing the willingness, but let's remember what all of this started from.
It was back with the coup d'etat in Ukraine back in 2014, as well as the deception about there being a possibility to address all of the issues via Minsky Premier.
Afterwards, in 2022, when everything was on the verge, when the Kyiv regime, the Ukrainian regime, basically unleashed a war in the southeast part of Ukraine, we said that we would have to recognize the unrecognized republics.
It would be better if you leave these people in peace and let them leave without russophobia, without coup d'etat.
And after Istanbul, at first, they basically initialed those drafts and then they basically threw them in the bin.
And this is what we're seeing right now.
They're basically refusing to finish this conflict via peaceful means.
That said, we are seeing things and we know there are signals, including from the Kyiv regime, indicating that they are willing to engage in some type of dialogue.
The only thing I would like to say is something that we've been saying for quite some time.
We are willing to put an end to this conflict via peaceful means based on the principles that I outlined in July last year when I spoke at the Foreign Ministry of Russia.
The root causes that brought about this conflict have to be addressed.
Mr. President, the situation at the battlefront is changing day in, day and out.
We know that you follow everything almost in real time, talking to our heroes, to our soldiers.
But the situation is changing on a daily basis.
Our soldiers are getting ahead audaciously and steadily.
As Commander-in-Chief, what's your assessment of the current state of affairs?
I've just listened to the report by the head of the general staff.
On the whole, I can tell you that right after our troops expelled the adversary from the Kusk region, the initiative, the strategic initiative, to be more precise, is firmly in the hands of the Russian armed forces.
What does it mean?
It means that our forces are advancing along the whole line of contact.
At some places, they are moving ahead faster, sometimes slower, but everywhere along the line of contact, the adversary is being pushed back.
Most importantly, and we started with this, you said, and I said that there were proposals to the Kyiv regime to withdraw their troops from those unrecognized back then.
They were recognized republics who didn't want to leave out of the jaw of the Kyiv nationalists.
By then, the Kiev regime had been building fortified positions in the agglomeration of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka.
This was the most fortified region.
So let's start with what is currently unfolding over there.
Just recently, the head of the general staff, the head of the group of forces, as well as the local commanders, the head of the brigade that I received at my office reported me on having taken Seversk,
which is an important settlement, and from there it's possible to move closer to one of the most fortified regions, to part of this agglomeration, which is Slovyatsk.
A little to the south from the our armed forces active in the South Liman direction.
The troops are in the city already.
The battle is raging and very soon it'll be taken.
A huge percentage is under our control, but the advancement is going to continue.
I said that Konstantinovka is part of this agglomeration and the battle is already there.
More than 50% of Konstantinovka is under Russian control.
I have no doubt whatsoever that this settlement is going to be taken as well.
There was an important development, namely the taking of Krasnoyarmiesk.
Because from Krasnoy Armiesk, you know, the competent level of the armed forces will have to make a decision on which direction to take.
But this is a very good bridgehead to continue offensive operations.
And to the south, northeast, there is the city of Dmitrov, which is also an important bridgehead and it is completely encircled.
I think around 50% of the city will have been taken by our forces.
By now, the adversary did not get an order or the command to lay down arms.
They're trying to break the encirclement, moving in small groups.
They're undertaking attempts to take back at least parts of Krasno-Armiesk.
In vain, so far, the adversary is sustaining significant losses and seen no success.
Another group of Russian armed forces, East Vostok group, is making great headway across Zaporozhye region, liberating one settlement after another.
As you know, currently the battle is taking place in Hulaipoli.
The city is divided by a river into two parts.
The biggest is on the opposite part of the river.
This bury has been bridged, and the battle is raging inside the city.
But an important part of the group of force of Vostok is moving even further, liberating one settlement after another in Zaporozhye region.
Moreover, safety and security zones are being set up in Summy region and the city of Volchansk and Kharkov region, as is well known.
Currently, several weeks ago, Kupyansk was taken by the Russian forces so far.
unidentified
Our forces are not moving, but they are in control.
The thing is, their most important task is to eliminate the group of the forces of the adversary on the left bank of the Osko River and to take another settlement, which is basically a hub of a transport hub, which is Kupyansk Uzlavoj.
There is a group of forces that is encircled there, 15 battalions, 3,500 soldiers who didn't get a command to withdraw either, and they have no chances whatsoever.
They are heavily encircled by the Russian armed forces.
And once this happens, once our units have completed their task, they will move further west.
I'm confident that by the end of the year we We'll have seen new successes by our armed forces, by our soldiers, our warriors at the line of contact.
unidentified
Keir Simmons from NBC News.
Mr. President, I want to ask you about relations with President Trump and the United States.
President Trump has a peace deal on the table.
Ukraine is offering enormous compromises, yet you continue to talk of war.
mr president if you reject president trump's peace offer will you be responsible for the deaths of ukrainians and russians in 2026.
we're not consider ourselves responsible for the death of It wasn't us who started this war.
This war began after the coup d'état, anti-constitutional coup d'état, armed coup d'état that happened in 2014 and the start of fighting on the part of the Kiev regime heads against their own people in the southeast of Ukraine.
On our part, we stopped short of recognizing the autonomy independence of the then breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
And after we had been deceived and the Minsk arrangements hadn't been implemented, we had to resort to the armed forces to conclude that war that had been started by the Kyiv regime with the support of the Western countries.
And President Trump is taking serious efforts to conclude this conflict, put an end to this conflict.
And I said on many occasions that he is quite sincere in this undertaking.
And moreover, during the meeting with President Trump in Anchorage, we agreed upon and virtually approved the proposals of President Trump.
So saying that we reject anything is inappropriate and has no grounds.
At a preliminary meeting in Moscow, a proposal was made to us and we were asked to make certain accommodations.
When I came to Anchorage and I arrived in Anchorage, I said that those would be difficult decisions for us, but we still are in agreement with this trade-off proposed to us.
So saying that we reject anything or turn anything down is inappropriate and groundless.
So the ball is entirely in the court of our Western so-called opponents, the chiefs of the Kyiv regime, most importantly, and their European sponsors.
We are ready for talks and we're ready to conclude the conflict by peaceful means.
Good afternoon.
My name is Jacob Schein, Politica newspaper from Serbia.
Thank you for giving me the floor.
I apologize for my command of Russian, but I'll bet you understand me.
You started the normalization of relationship between Russia and the United States and all that you get is more sanctions imposed on Russian companies.
Some of them are on Serbian soil.
I'm referring to NIS.
Can you tell me what the Serbian people should expect and what the future developments are likely to be?
And my second question is about your meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska.
You discussed a new security framework and there was some secret information about cooperation with NATO.
And when Clinton visited you, he also volunteered to join NATO.
But I just wonder whether some degree of cooperation between Russia and NATO will be existent in future to avoid the war and live normally.
I'll bet that I hope that next year we'll have more talks about peace than war.
Thank you for your question.
We also would very much like to live in peace next year, getting rid of military conflicts.
And I reiterate, we actually would very much like to resolve all contentious issues by way of talks.
And I hope that you will be in agreement.
We'll have to eradicate the root causes of the conflict so that it shouldn't happen in future for the sake of a lasting, durable and just peace.
With respect to prospective cooperation with NATO, we had it in the past.
And we also discussed a membership first of the USSR, then of Russia in NATO.
But in both cases, we figured out that we were not welcome there.
And the promises that had been given to us that NATO would not expand had been ignored and we had been deceived.
And there had been several waves of expansion of NATO.
And that entailed moving military infrastructure closer to our border, which causes our legitimate concern.
And in this context, a new security system or framework in Europe is very relevant, rather relevant.
Even before the breakup of the USR, some clever people in Europe like the Social Democrats in Germany proposed to establish a new security framework in Europe,
not expanding NATO, but establishing a new security framework with the participation of the US, Eastern Europe and Russia, so that no one should be left behind or put in a difficult situation.
Actually, now we don't require anything untoward or extraordinary.
We're not saying that a country should not be able to select a way of protecting itself, but this should be a way that wouldn't threaten anyone, including us, would not require anything that wasn't voiced before.
We just insist on keeping the promises that were given to us by the Western partners.
We were deceived.
Actually bamboozled, and now we want a reliable system in Europe.
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