Russia Does Not Seek Ukraine's Surrender, Putin Stresses

Russia does not seek Ukraine's surrender, but aims at recognition of the facts on the ground, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

"We are not seeking capitulation from Ukraine. We insist on recognizing the realities that have developed on the ground," Putin stated at a plenary session of the 2025 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

Russia is not questioning and has never questioned the Ukrainian people's right to independence and sovereignty, the Russian president stressed, adding that there are people in Ukraine who are striving for independence and sovereignty.

"I have said many times that I consider the Russian and Ukrainian peoples to be one people. In this sense, the whole of Ukraine is ours," Putin added.

Ukraine should return to those fundamental values on the basis of which it has gained its sovereignty, including the country's non-aligned status, the president emphasized.

"The grounds on which Ukraine became independent and sovereign were set out in the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine in 1991, where it is clearly written in black and white that Ukraine is a non-aligned, non-nuclear, neutral state. It would be nice to return to these fundamental values on which Ukraine gained its independence and sovereignty," he explained.

Russia's actions in Ukraine after the coup were aimed at protecting the population that was spiritually connected with Russia, according to the top official.

"A state-sponsored, bloody, unconstitutional coup in Ukraine. What is this? This is also an action from a position of strength. And the former US administration bluntly said that it had spent billions of dollars on this coup. They did not hesitate to say so publicly. And our actions were aimed at protecting a part of the population that has ties of blood and considered itself spiritually connected with Russia," he pointed out.

Russia tried to "glue the situation together" with the Minsk agreements and resolve the issue with Ukraine peacefully, the president explained.

Moscow offered to stop at every stage of conflict with Ukraine and offered to negotiate, but Kiev refused because the West was sure that it could profit from the current situation, Putin said, adding Russia's opponents in the West today rely on radical nationalists and neo-Nazis in Ukraine.

Russia's calls for non-expansion of NATO to the east were ignored, and Moscow's interests were neglected, the Russian top official noted.

"Since the early 90s, we have been told for decades that in no case, never, under any circumstances, will there be an expansion of NATO to the east. After that, we had five waves of expansion, we can say that we have already had six. And despite all our calls not to do this, all our calls were ignored […] These are actions from a position of strength that disregard the interests of Russia," Putin said.

Putin described such ignoring as a vestige of ancient neocolonial policy. The tragedy in Ukraine is the result of the work of those who are not ready to accept global changes in the world, he added.

Russia is forced to create a security zone along its border with Ukraine, distracting already understaffed Ukrainian forces, Putin continued.

"They do not have enough personnel as it is. And now we are forced to create a security zone along the borders in many areas, and they are diverting their armed forces there, which are already lacking in the main areas of the combat interactions," he said.

Russia has no goal to take control of city of Sumy, but such possibility not excluded, the top official noted. The depth of the security zone in the Sumy region is from eight to 12 kilometers, according to him.

While Ukraine is losing combat readiness, with its army staffed at only 47%, the Russian military is advancing along the entire line of contact every day, the Russian leader pointed out.

"They broke into our Kursk region, committed a lot of crimes there, and crimes against the civilian population. We got them out of there with huge losses for them, and now we have to create security zones along the borderline because they are attacking from there with artillery, with the help of unmanned aerial vehicles," Putin also said, adding that during its incursion in the Kursk region, Ukraine lost 76,000 servicemen.

Kiev created its problems on its own, by attacking the Kursk region, Putin stated.

"They created another line of combat contact with their own hands, almost 2,000 kilometers long. There were 2,000 kilometers of combat contact. And they started creating another threat along the border. And another thousand-odd, I think, 1,600 kilometers. They pulled apart all their armed forces. It's hard to imagine anything more stupid from a military point of view. They create their problems by themselves," he explained.

Kiev's attack on the Kursk region had political goals, as it was designed to gain support from Ukraine's Western sponsors, the president said.

Ukrainians want more and more money from their sponsors abroad, but they steal half of it, according to Putin.

"The meaning and purpose [of Ukraine's creation of a threat to Russia's border territories] was only one thing – a political goal. To show that they can get something else from their sponsors from abroad. And so we have already received almost $250 billion. No, it is not enough. They want more, more and more. And half of the funds are also being stolen, if not more,"

Vladimir Putin also stated that Russia's response to the use of a "dirty bomb" by Ukraine would be catastrophic.

"In our nuclear doctrine, both common sense and the practice of our actions always say that we always respond to all threats that are created for us, in kind. Therefore, our response will be very tough and, most likely, catastrophic for both the neo-Nazi regime and, unfortunately, for Ukraine itself. I hope that it will never come to that," he noted.

The Russian city of St. Petersburg is hosting the 28th edition of SPIEF from June 18-21 under the theme of "Shared Values: The Foundation of Growth in a Multipolar World." Rossiya Segodnya international media group, Sputnik's parent company, is the forum's information partner.