By Dmitry Antonov and Maxim Rodionov
MOSCOW, Sept 1 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was winning the war in Ukraine and portrayed the Ukrainian leadership as “terrorists” with whom Moscow could not negotiate.
Putin, in his most detailed comments on the war for many weeks, acknowledged that Ukrainian attacks inside Russia had inflicted real damage and said that drones posed a particular challenge.
But he said that Russia was advancing on the battlefield and told reporters: “I have no doubt the enemy will crumble.”
He declined to say when that would happen.
Rumours that Russia would be forced to order a new military mobilisation were “utter nonsense,” he said.
PUTIN SAYS RUSSIAN ADVANCES ARE ACCELERATING
Four and a half years into the war, Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine. U.S.-mediated peace talks broke off in February after the United States and Israel went to war with Iran.
Opinion polls suggest growing war fatigue in Russia and influential voices are warning about the strain on its economy.
But Putin struck a confident, hawkish tone as he rattled through a detailed version of developments on the front line, saying Russian advances were accelerating.
Russian troops had captured 270 square km (104 sq miles) of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine in August and two large groups of Ukrainian troops – one comprising 4,500 to 4,800 men, the other up to 2,000 – were surrounded, he said. Reuters could not independently verify those assertions.
Russia continues to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Putin said, adding that Moscow’s forces were preparing to launch massive strikes against energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
Putin said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s warning to airlines that Ukrainian drones would effectively shut down Russian airspace sounded like “state terrorism” and that Moscow would find a way to respond if it happened.
Speaking at a news conference after a summit in Kyrgyzstan, Putin said it was not possible to negotiate with “terrorists”.
He also said, however, that Moscow was open to talks aimed at ending, rather than freezing, the war, and restated its willingness to talk to U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys.
“If someone makes, or can make, a tangible contribution to this process, we are all in favour,” Putin said.
“The only thing we would want to avoid is the process spinning its wheels pointlessly. However, if someone is capable of bringing something positive to these negotiations – which, as we understand it, are currently somewhat frozen – then, generally speaking, we are not opposed.”
Putin specifically acknowledged that Ukrainian drone strikes had caused damage to Russian oil refineries, although without referring to widespread fuel shortages that have resulted from those attacks.
But he said that the level of protection had improved, and “we only have 10% of our refineries left to repair”.
Putin responded scathingly to an accusation by the German government on Tuesday that Russia was to blame for an attempted drone attack at Leipzig airport last month.
He said the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz was pointing the finger at Moscow to distract from domestic problems and falling approval ratings.
Putin accused Germany of planting evidence in order to frame Russia for the drone attack, but he did not say what he was basing that accusation on.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov in Moscow and Maxim Rodionov in London; additional reporting by Ksenia Orlova, Filipp Lebedev, Darya Korsunskaya, Anton Kolodyazhnyy, Gleb Stolyarov and Andrew Osborn; writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
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