Putin says any Ukraine peace deal must ensure Russia's security, vows no retreat
Vladimir Soldatkin and Dmitry Antonov
Thu, March 6, 2025 at 10:43 AM CST
By Vladimir Soldatkin and Dmitry Antonov
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will seek a peace deal in Ukraine that safeguards its own long-term security and will not retreat from the gains it has made in the conflict, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday in comments to relatives of soldiers killed there.
Putin also took an indirect swipe at French President Emmanuel Macron, saying Western leaders should not underestimate the Russian people and should keep in mind the fate of Napoleon Bonaparte, whose invasion of Russia in 1812 ended in disaster.
"We must choose for ourselves a peace option that will suit us and that will ensure peace for our country in the long term," Putin told a group of Russian women who have lost loved ones during the three-year war in Ukraine.
Asked by the mother of one fallen soldier if Russia would retreat, Putin said he did not intend to do that. Russia currently controls just under a fifth of Ukraine - or about 113,000 square km.
At times during the meeting some women wiped away tears.
U.S. President Donald Trump has upended Western policy on the Ukraine war, opening up bilateral talks with Moscow and pausing military aid to Kyiv after clashing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the White House last week.
