By Marina Bobrova and Anton Kolodyazhnyy
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that U.S. proposals for peace in Ukraine could be the basis of a resolution of the conflict but that if Kyiv turned down the plan then Russian forces would advance further.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he was giving Ukraine until Thursday to accept a U.S. peace plan which endorses key Russian demands on NATO, territory and recognition of Russian controlled regions.
“I believe that it can be used as the basis for a final peaceful settlement,” Putin told senior officials at a meeting of the Russian Security Council, which is like a modern-day politburo of Russia’s most powerful officials.
Putin added that the 28-point plan had not been discussed in detail yet with the United States, but that Moscow had received a copy of it.
Putin said that Ukraine was against the plan but that neither Kyiv nor European powers understood the reality that Russian forces were advancing in Ukraine and would continue to advance unless there was peace.
Russia controls just over 19% of Ukraine, or 115,500 square km, up just one percentage point from two years ago. Moscow wants to gain control of all of the Donbas, which includes Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as the whole of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday Ukraine faced losing its dignity and freedom or Washington’s support over the U.S. peace plan.
Putin said that Russia had discussed Trump’s peace plan before their August summit in Alaska, and that Moscow had made compromises as requested by Washington.
“The U.S. administration has so far failed to secure the consent of the Ukrainian side. Ukraine is against it,” Putin said.
Putin said that Russian forces had taken almost full control of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk on Nov. 4 – despite Kyiv’s denials – and such advances would continue if Ukraine refused the U.S. plan.
“If Kyiv does not want to discuss President Trump’s proposal and refuses to do so, then both they and the European warmongers should understand that the events that took place in Kupiansk will inevitably be repeated in other key sectors of the front,” Putin said.
“And in general, that works for us,” Putin said, adding that he was open to discussing peace.
(Reporting by Ksenia Orlova, Anastasia Lyrchikova, Darya Korsunskaya and Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Guy Faulconbrige)
Comments