Moscow has not ruled out a future meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, but insists negotiations must follow “expert-level” groundwork, with Ukraine first accepting key Russian demands, including neutrality.
From calling Kherson and Zaporizhzhia “Novorossiya” to branding Odesa as Russian, Putin and his aides double down on propaganda denying Ukraine’s right to exist as a separate nation.
Russia is recruiting 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers monthly through financial incentives rather than formal conscription, according to US and EU intelligence sources.
Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that now “there is a lot of different contradictory and unreliable information” surrounding Zelenskyy's peace plan.