Vladimir Putin has made a chilling nuclear threat after he warned that if Ukraine doesn’t withdraw its troops under Donald Trump’s proposed peace deal, Russia will have to achieve its objectives by force.
The Russian leader on Thursday said that fighting would stop with Ukraine as long as Kyiv withdraws its troops.
And when asked about nuclear testing, Putin stated that Russia ‘should be prepared for any developments’.
He also added that the pace of Russia’s advance in all directions was ‘noticeably increasing.’
‘Ukrainian troops must withdraw from the territories they hold, and then the fighting will cease.
‘If they don’t leave, then we shall achieve this by armed means. That’s it,’ Putin said as he noted that Russian forces were advancing in Ukraine at a faster pace.
His stark warning comes after he acknowledged that the outlines of a draft peace plan discussed by the US and Ukraine could become the basis of future agreements to end the conflict in Ukraine.
‘In general, we agree that this can be the basis for future agreements,’ Putin said, adding that the variant of the plan discussed by the the US and Ukraine in Geneva had been passed to Russia.
He added that the US was taking into account Russia’s position but that some things still need to be discussed.
The Russian president also said that if Europe wanted a pledge not to attack it, then Moscow was willing to give such a pledge.
Putin added that he considered the Ukrainian leadership to be illegitimate and so it was legally impossible to sign a deal with Ukraine, so it was important to ensure any agreement was recognised by the international community – and that the international community recognised Russian gains in Ukraine.
