Putin claims Ukrainian army facing collapse

The Russian leader shared his assessment of the frontline situation on Thursday during a panel discussion at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. He said the Ukrainian attempt to disrupt the Russian military with the massive attack across the border last month had backfired.

”Our military has stabilized the situation and is now gradually pushing the opponent from the border territories. More importantly, there is no resistance to our advancement [in Donbass],” he explained.

“The opponent has weakened itself on the key axis by moving those relatively strong and well-trained units to the border areas.”

Ukrainian officials expected Moscow to redeploy some of its forces from the east to repel the incursion in the north. However, the gamble has not paid off, Aleksandr Syrsky, Kiev’s top general, acknowledged last week.

Putin said Russian troops had been securing more land in Donbass, which is a priority for Moscow, at a pace unseen in a long time. Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops are “suffering very high losses in manpower and hardware”.

“Because of that, [Kiev] risks a collapse of the front line on the most important axis. The casualties may result in a loss of fighting capability of the entire armed forces, which is what we are looking to achieve,” the president added.

On Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry estimated that Ukrainian casualties in the Kursk operation had surpassed 9,700 troops. Kiev also lost 81 tanks, dozens of other armored vehicles, hundreds of cars, and multiple heavy weapons, the military said.

Putin confirmed the statistics, telling the audience that the intelligence had been confirmed by multiple sources.

The West and the Kiev authorities abandoned the Istanbul agreements on a settlement in Ukraine in order to achieve Russia’s strategic defeat, but to no avail, Putin said.

“We had practically achieved all parameters of a possible peace agreement with representatives of the government in Kiev. We agreed on everything. Moreover, Ukraine’s chief negotiator (David Arahamiya), who still heads the faction of the ruling party in the Verkhovna Rada, authorized these agreements,” Putin pointed out.

“True, there were still some details to be finalized, but on the whole the approval is still valid. It’s a document. But then Mr. [Boris] Johnson (who served as British prime minister) arrived, as it is known – the British authorities confirm this – and instructed the Ukrainians to fight to the last Ukrainian. Which is happening today in an attempt to achieving Russia’s strategic defeat.”

“This does not work,” Putin added.

The Ukrainian authorities, he recalled, have publicly stated that “if they had then carried out what we agreed with them and not obeyed their masters from other countries, the war would have stopped a long time ago”.

“But they took a different path. The result is in sight,” the Russian leader stated.

Russia has never refused to negotiate on Ukraine, Putin emphasized, but not on the basis of some ephemeral demands, but on the basis of the Istanbul agreements.

“Are we ready to negotiate with them? We have never refused to do so. But not on the basis of some ephemeral demands, but on the basis of the documents that were agreed and actually initialed in Istanbul.”

Moscow and Kiev managed to agree on settling the conflict back in March 2022 in Istanbul, but the accords did not come into effect only because of orders given by the West, which aims to strategically defeat Russia, Putin said.

“We managed to reach an agreement, that’s the entire thing, and the signature of the head of the Ukrainian delegation who initialed this document testifies to this fact, which means that the Ukrainian side on the whole was satisfied with the achieved agreements. They did not come into effect only because they were ordered not to do that. The elites of the US, Europe, and several European countries desired to achieve Russia’s strategic defeat,” he added.

The head of state noted that Russia has never rejected and does not reject holding negotiations but only on the basis of talks reached and documented back then in Istanbul.