Kremlin says Russia is ready to return to negotiations once it has fully occupied Donbas, - Bloomberg
Russian dictator Putin is not prepared to make territorial concessions and wants to return to negotiations only after the complete capture of the Donetsk region.
This is reported in a Bloomberg article, according to Censor.NET.
Details
The publication cites sources close to the Kremlin who claim that Russia no longer intends to return certain occupied territories to Ukraine as part of any agreement to end the war and plans to retain them as buffer zones.
"Putin remains committed to taking full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region by force and will now retain areas of Sumy and Kharkiv regions near the border with Russia as buffer zones," three interlocutors reported.
According to them, Putin refused to make territorial concessions because Russia views the increasingly tough statements from the U.S. as evidence that the informal agreements reached during his summit in Alaska with President Donald Trump are no longer valid.
Negotiations
Sources close to the Kremlin say that Russia is ready to return to negotiations only after Putin achieves his goal of establishing control over the entire Donetsk region.
"Russia’s Defense Ministry has assured the president it can establish full control of the area by the end of the year, one person said.
Many in Russia’s military consider that timetable unrealistic and believe that it will only be able to take control of Donetsk region during 2027, according to a person close to the Defense Ministry in Moscow," Bloomberg says.
What led up to this?
Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that no agreements to end Russia’s war against Ukraine were reached during the 2025 meeting between Donald Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Russian officials in the Kremlin have repeatedly referred to the "Anchorage agreement" or "Anchorage arrangements," under which they allegedly intend to end the war in Ukraine.
- On June 4, Putin called the "Anchorage Agreement" the basis for ending Russia’s war against Ukraine.
- On June 21, Putin’s aide Ushakov stated that "one of the parties proved unable to fulfill the agreements reached in Anchorage."
- On June 23, Russian dictator Putin himself reiterated that the "Anchorage principles" should be "Russia’s position" in negotiations to end the war against Ukraine.
However, Putin later said that no agreements had actually been reached in Anchorage during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
