Putin assures that the “agreement” with Ukraine is not incompatible with maintaining control of the Donbas region

The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, considered this Thursday that reaching an “agreement” with Ukraine is not incompatible with maintaining control of the entire Donbas region, this being the main point of friction in the negotiations carried out by the United States, now paralyzed by the war in Iran.

“One thing does not exclude the other. Controlling the entire Donbas region and concluding an ‘agreement’ are not mutually exclusive,” said the Russian president, in a meeting with international media within the framework of the holding of an economic forum in the city of Saint Petersburg, according to the Interfax agency.

Regarding the situation in eastern Ukraine, Putin has assured that Donbas has been practically “liberated”, with Lugansk 100% of its territory under Moscow’s control, while Donetsk is 85%. “The Russian Army has placed some 2,440,000 square kilometers under its control,” he highlighted.

Putin has stressed that the offensive continues daily and that thanks to this they have also managed to take over 80% of the territory of the province of Zaporizhia.

Once again, Putin has stressed that they are prepared to seal peace and that the end of the conflict depends on Ukraine, establishing as a starting point, he has clarified, the agreement that Russia and the United States signed at that summit in Anchorage, Alaska, held in August 2025.

Putin recalled that at that time, Russia accepted the proposals presented to it at the meeting in order to be able to accept all “certain agreements”, so now it is up to Ukraine “to also accept these commitments.”

Thus, “the conflict will quickly come to its natural end,” stated the Russian president, at a time when “no one wants to fight” in Ukraine, which faces a “catastrophic shortage” of personnel. Added to the casualties in combat, he said, are the increasing number of desertions, some “approximately 60,000.”