Putin: “Saving the Kyiv regime is not part of our plans”

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia does not intend to save the Kyiv regime, commenting on Ukraine’s proposal to limit the territory of combat operations.

He made the remarks in a conversation with journalist Pavel Zarubin.

“Given the catastrophic shortage of personnel, the Ukrainian Armed Forces apparently believe this could be their salvation. But saving the Kyiv regime is not part of our plans,” — Putin said.

According to the head of state, the Ukrainian authorities proposed limiting combat operations to four territories: the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. Putin believes that if Moscow agreed to such a proposal, the Ukrainian Armed Forces would redeploy their forces from the Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Sumy regions into these four areas.

Putin assured that Russia would not accept conditions favorable to the enemy.

Earlier, the Russian president said that the 2022 negotiations on Ukraine were moved to Istanbul at Kyiv’s request, recalling that they had originally begun in Belarus. In addition, Putin reported the encirclement of a Ukrainian Armed Forces grouping of five thousand troops in the special military operation zone.