Putin says Russia will occupy Donbass by force or Ukrainian troops will withdraw

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said either Ukrainian troops will withdraw from the country’s eastern Donbass region or Russia will seize the region – rejecting any compromise on a major obstacle to ending Ukraine’s war.

“Either we take back these territories by force, or eventually Ukrainian troops withdraw,” Putin told India Today.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out the possibility of ceding territory, whether it belongs to Russia or not.

Putin’s comments came after President Donald Trump said after talks in Moscow on Tuesday that his negotiators believed the Russian leader “wanted to end the war.”

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who is leading the U.S. negotiations, will meet with Ukrainian negotiators in Florida.

Trump said the talks went “pretty well,” adding that it was too early to tell what would happen because “it does take two to tango.”

Russian troops now control about 85% of Donbas. The original version of the American Peace Plan Recommended transfer area Donbas remains under Ukrainian control and is effectively controlled by Putin.

Putin also said in an interview with India Today ahead of his state visit to Delhi that Moscow disagreed with parts of the U.S. plan.

“Sometimes we say, yes, we can discuss this issue, but we cannot agree on it,” Putin said.

He did not identify the sticking point. At least two important points of contention remain: the fate of Ukrainian territories occupied by Russian forces and Ukraine’s security.

Putin said Moscow had not seen a revised version of the U.S. peace plan before nearly five hours of talks with Witkov and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

“That’s why we had to examine every point carefully, that’s why it took so long,” Putin said.

Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s senior foreign policy adviser and key negotiator, earlier said the Kremlin talks had produced “no compromise” on ending the war.

Ushakov also suggested that Russia’s negotiating position had been strengthened by what Moscow described as recent battlefield successes.

But Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andry Sibiya accused Putin of “wasting the world’s time”, while Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States said they “do not need to wait for Russia’s commitment”.

Zelensky insisted that Ukraine must be provided with firm security guarantees in any deal.

On Wednesday, he said “the world clearly believes there is a real chance of ending the war” but that talks must be “underpinned by pressure on Russia”, with Kiev and its European allies accusing Russia of deliberately stalling any ceasefire deal.

Zelensky earlier said his top negotiators had succeeded in making some key changes to the original U.S. peace plan during talks with the U.S. delegation in Geneva last week – seen as strongly backing Moscow.

In a joint statement, U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators said they had developed an “updated and improved peace framework” – but gave no further details.

Senior negotiators from Europe, who also met separately with Ukrainian and American teams in the Swiss city, expressed concerns about the initial U.S. plan.

Germany’s Der Spiegel news website said on Thursday it had obtained a confidential transcript of a conference call in which European leaders expressed concerns about U.S. negotiations.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that “the United States may betray Ukraine on territorial issues when security guarantees are unclear,” according to the English transcript of Monday’s phone call.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was quoted as warning Zelensky that he must be “extremely careful in the coming days.”

“They’re playing a game, both with you and with us,” Meltz reportedly said.

Finnish President Alexander Stuab was also quoted as saying: “We cannot leave Ukraine and Vladimir alone with these guys.”

The BBC has not yet seen a transcript of the report.

France’s Elysee Palace said in response to an inquiry from Der Spiegel that “the president did not express himself in these terms.” The presidential office declined to disclose details of how Macron expressed himself, citing confidentiality.

Staab declined to comment to Der Spiegel, and Merz did not comment for this story.

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukraine’s territory.

In recent weeks, Russian forces have been advancing slowly in southeastern Ukraine despite reports of heavy casualties in fighting.