The goals of the special military operation will certainly be achieved, Putin said at a meeting at the Defense Ministry in Moscow, using the Kremlin's name for Russia's offensive, which has been going on for almost four years.
Putin also accuses European leaders and former US President Joe Biden of causing the “armed conflict” in Ukraine – despite Russia unprovokedly choosing to invade its neighboring country.
“The little pigs of Europe immediately joined the efforts of the previous US administration in the hope of profiting from our country’s collapse,” Putin said, according to The Guardian.
The comments follow recent days of negotiations between Ukraine and its allies on a peace agreement.
Today, another signal came from Moscow that they are preparing to make next year a year of war, Zelensky said in his evening speech about Putin's words.
Perhaps the most important sticking point concerns territories, where Moscow wants Kiev to cede all of Donbass (the Donetsk and Luhansk regions), including areas not occupied by Russia, to create a demilitarized “free economic zone.”
Putin says he prefers a diplomatic solution but promises to seize the area militarily if "actual discussions" fail to take place.
Zelensky has previously pointed out that Ukraine has neither the legal nor the moral right to give up land.
