Vladimir Putin also said he was considering expanding the use of the Orechnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) to target Ukrainian cities.
Mr. Putin repeated that this missile, already used three times without charge against Ukraine, was capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
A new Donbass in Estonia? “15 to 20% of the Russian-speaking population is pro-Putin”
The Russian head of state affirmed that he was always ready to negotiate with kyiv an exit from the conflict, “on the basis of what we talked about during the meeting with (American) President Donald Trump” in Anchorage in August 2025.
Moscow is demanding political and territorial concessions from the Ukrainian government, including a complete withdrawal from the Donetsk region which forms part of Donbass. Demands rejected by kyiv, which equates them with capitulation.
According to Mr. Putin, an agreement to end the conflict does not exclude total control by Moscow over the Donbass, a mining basin in eastern Ukraine today partially under Russian control.
“One does not exclude the other,” he told journalists.
The Russian leader also affirmed that Moscow’s troops were advancing “along the entire front line”.
Top Ukrainian commander predicts ‘turning point in war within six to nine months’
An AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), however, shows that Ukraine took back some 282 km2 from the Russians in May, reducing for the second month in a row the area of its territory controlled by Moscow, which had been gaining ground since the fall of 2023.
The decline in Moscow’s forces reported by the ISW is, however, not total: Russian soldiers remain infiltrated in most of the areas where Ukraine has regained ground.
