Despite Trump’s threats, Putin plans to continue the Ukraine war

Despite the threats of US President Donald Trump, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wants to continue the Ukraine War, according to several Kremlin insiders. This applies until the West goes into peace on Putin’s conditions. This is reported by three sources of the Reuters news agency with the Kremlin.

Putin’s regional demands could even expand if Russian troops further advanced. The Russian president assumes that Russia’s economy and military are also strong enough even in other western sanctions.

US President Donald Trump had recently been frustrated by Putin’s refusal to agree to an armistice. He announced new arms deliveries to Ukraine and threatened to sanctions harder. Nevertheless, Putin is not ready to give in western pressure, according to the insiders.

He was convinced that Russia could cope with additional economic burdens such as US tariffs for buyers of Russian oil. “Putin believes that nobody – including the Americans – has seriously negotiated with him about the details of peace in Ukraine. So he will continue until he gets what he wants,” said one of the insiders about Reuters, who wanted to remain anonymous. “Putin appreciates the relationship with Trump and he had good conversations with negotiator Steve Witkoff, but Russia’s interests are above everything.”

Among other things, Putin’s conditions for peace include a promise that NATO is not expanded to the east, the neutrality of Ukraine, limits for their armed forces, protection for Russian -speaking citizens and the recognition of Russian area gains.

In addition, Putin is ready to talk about security guarantees for Ukraine, although it is unclear what they could look like. Ukraine under President Wolodymyr Selenskyj refuses to recognize Russian regional claims and insists on the right to decide on a NATO access.

Russia is currently controlling around a fifth of the Ukrainian state area, including the Crimea, Luhansk, more than 70 percent of Donetsk and parts of other regions. Putin calls for the full deduction of the Ukrainian troops from these zones as a prerequisite for peace negotiations.

According to insiders, the Russian side sees itself militarily at the advantage and refers to progress on the front and a production focused on war economy that NATO exceeds when making ammunition.

Trump has telephoned Putin several times since returning to the White House and was looking for an approach to Russia. Trump’s government has withdrawn support for Ukrainian NATO accession and put the recognition of Crimea Angelexion into the room.

The insiders expect a further escalation of the conflict and warn of the dangers between the two world’s largest nuclear powers. An soon end of the war is not in sight.