Russian President Vladimir Putin quipped on Friday that in his view the whole of Ukraine was "ours" and cautioned that advancing Russian forces could take the Ukrainian city of Sumy as part of a bid to carve out a buffer zone along the border.
Putin, who ordered troops into Ukraine in 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine, also said he was not seeking the capitulation of Ukraine or denying Ukraine's sovereignty, but that Ukraine had to be neutral.
Russia currently controls about a fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea, more than 99% of the Luhansk region, over 70% of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and fragments of the Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Asked about fresh Russian advances, Putin told the St Petersburg International Economic Forum that he considered Russians and Ukrainians to be one people and "in that sense the whole of Ukraine is ours".
Kyiv and its Western allies say Moscow's claims to four Ukrainian regions and Crimea are illegal, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected the notion that Russians and Ukrainians are one people.
He has also said that Putin's terms for peace are akin to capitulation.
Putin said on Friday he was not questioning Ukraine's independence or its people's striving for sovereignty, but he underscored that when Ukraine declared independence as the Soviet Union fell in 1991 it had also declared its neutrality.
Putin said Moscow wanted Ukraine to accept the reality on the ground if there was to be a chance of peace - Russia's shorthand for the reality of Russia's control over a chunk of Ukrainian territory bigger than the U.S. state of Virginia.
"We have a saying, or a parable," Putin said. "Where the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours."
Putin said Russian forces were carving out a buffer zone in Ukraine's Sumy region in order to protect Russian territory and said he did not rule out those same troops taking control of the regional capital of Sumy.
The depth of the zone under Russian control in the Sumy region was 8-12 km, Putin said.
"Next is the city of Sumy, the regional center. We don't have the task of taking it, but in principle I don't rule it out," he said.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
43 Comments
Jonathan Prin
How come Europe is not able to stand in its own area ?
Are Europeans so unskilled and naive ?
KnightsOfCydonia
And there we have it from the horses mouth. Putin has always believed Ukraine was Russian, hence the election meddling and subsequent invasion when the Ukrainian people said enough was enough,
As for Europe? Too little too late?
TaiwanIsNotChina
And we are supposed to believe that this is a man ready for peace.
englisc aspyrgend
Alaska next! The Empire wants everything it has ever occupied or been to, back under its control.
It is unacceptable that these people are not as miserable as we are and living in as abject poverty as the Great Muscovite empire (anyway we need to steal their toilets).
TaiwanIsNotChina
Are you under the impression Europe has been stockpiling munitions since WW2 or should go to war with russia?
JJE
Moscow is not up for 50%.
It's coming for it all.
Obviously in reference to the collapse in manpower.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Not as a condition for joining the UN Charter and probably not for the other three treaties russia violated either. In any event, Ukraine has never been offered nor accepted membership in NATO.
lincolnman
Lately he's been showing he's as demented as his orange puppet....
Underworld
Underlying the whole premise of this war.
This is unmistakably a war of imperialism, and now Putin is saying the same.
Underworld
JJE
Which is as imaginary as the premise that Ukraine is Russia's.
bass4funk
Well, that’s it.
nishikat
Putin quips that 'the whole of Ukraine is ours'
Trump agrees.
Peppermint
Hahahashhsah…
Pithy, without the actual pith. Well done! :-D
Lancet
Already in Dnipropetrovsk.
Once again, yesterday's Russian disinformation is today's approved news.
geronimo2006
And there we have it. The root cause of the conflict is no longer an open secret. Putin can say out in the open now in the knowledge US will do nothing against him.
bass4funk
Honestly, I really don’t care.
JJE
Also, undeniable the Slavic people are all one.
In actual fact, the biggest ethnic group in Europe with Moscow the biggest city.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Are you under the impression that when Putin says it, it must be so?
Patriots care about US national security and the implications of russia controlling more territory.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Funny how the revocation of neutrality happened after the disgusting invasion of Crimea and Donbas by russia.
Provocation still being mightily searched for.
Pretty sure that is isn't even in true in your Orwellian police state.
bass4funk
Yup
I do
Then Europe needs to step up and I’m more worried about China and the mullahs than what Russia does.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Patriots are concerned with what happens with our treaty allies in Europe. We will not be ignoring an invocation of Article 5.
bass4funk
No, patriots are concerned with their nation first.
Hmmm
Mr Kipling
Surely native speakers can understand the nuance of "in that sense" ?
Crimea, and the 4 Oblasts predominantly Russian will become "New Russia" plus a buffer zone for safety.
Underworld
JJE
Never have been.
Underworld
Mr Kipling
he considered Russians and Ukrainians to be one people and "in that sense the whole of Ukraine is ours".
No. Russians and Ukrainians aren't one people.
Crimea and 4 Oblasts are 100% Ukrainian. Also, predominately Russian speakers exist in all of them.
There is no such thing as a buffer zone and this war has never been about "safety".
Some dude
And, conveniently forgetting about history, everyone nods and says "oh, he's just being dramatic, he doesn't really mean that".
However, in the unlikely event he has enough resources and time to genuinely take the entirety of Ukraine, then is he really going to stop there? The more power you give a megalomaniac, the more he wants. If Russia controls X percent of Ukraine now, and it has cost them a million dead and injured, as well as countless equipment, how much more so would it cost them to keep going, and going, and going...
People make jokes about China doing this ("China claims that Peru is technically part of China because it has a Chinese takeaway shop in downtown Lima"), but it's often our tendency to downplay comments like this, when the person making them is definitely not joking.
Michael Moore really did hit the nail on the head when he called his documentary "Stupid White Men".
okinawarides
Patriots are concerned with what happens with our treaty allies in Europe. We will not be ignoring an invocation of Article 5.
Are people supposed to believe that Russia which is having no easy time against the number 30 in military expenditure is going to invade European NATO allies covered by Article 5 ?
No serious adult believes that.
HopeSpringsEternal
Putin has his own views on history and certainly region of Ukraine has a deep history with Russia proper, far longer and more influential than all other 'cultural' centers in Europe and naturally far before founding of USA!
TaiwanIsNotChina
Ronald Reagan knew our defense begins abroad and so do patriots.
Yes, you will be going hmm, but troops will defend our European allies or the US will suffer further disgrace from MAGA weakness.
TaiwanIsNotChina
No serious adult believes there won't be implications of having russia on the border of Romania.
bass4funk
Which is what we are seeing now, but thankfully this great President is putting US interests first and foremost.
Not to the level you think. Speaking of Europe and Zelenskyy, did they send troops in yet to help him?
KnightsOfCydonia
The Ukraine war has allowed russia to move to a full time war economy with machinery, weapons and ammunition production being ramped up. Meanwhile this war has exposed the weakness of NATO logistics and cohesive planning. Trump, like or hate him has raised this point and is right in wanting to revitalize US manufacturing (how he goes about all this is one of my bones of contention).
Europe so far is doing very little apart from talking and is disappointing to say the least. Some positive signs of unity with Britain, France and Germany and a strong Polish army determined to be a doormat no more.
And through all of this china is gaining valuable intel and witnessing our weakness as it begins to assert itself even further afield.
Interesting times ahead..
elephant200
Bringing back the USSR, a very sacred duty for him !
iraira
At the rate that Russia is advancing in Ukraine, they should have the entire country under control around the turn of the century.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Ukraine isn't asking for foreign troops while the war is going on.
Underworld
okinawarides
The people in Finland, Poland, Lithuania, to name a few, believe that. All those nations are actively preparing defenses for an invasion by Russia.
I think they are serious adults in those countries.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Europe has contributed more to Ukraine than the US.
And weakness #1 is the inability of the MAGA party to defend any country except Israel. Not even the US.
bass4funk
What Europe needs is strong and united Europe.
HonestDictator
Only Trump and his loyalist bootlickers, and brown eye kissers don't care. But "oh no Iran!"
Many of us called out Putin's invasion for EXACTLY what it was, regardless of how many ways he tried to pretend or distract from what it always was...
starpunk
Pigs fly too, and I don't mean Pink Floyd concert pig balloons either!
Whassa madda, Puddy Pie? Iran ain't selling you enough drones now because they're so embroiled with Israel. And the Ukes themselves really whammed your air force big time a week or so ago too. Jack-slapped the Russian air force real good!
You started this stupid war and you know have mud and doo-doo all over your face. Keep on drinking that vodka and telling yourself stories that Ukraine is yours. Get drunk and fall flat on your arrogant stupid face for all we care. Be as delusional as your disciple Donald.
The whole human race can see the truth, Vlad. You can BS yourself but not us.
okinawarides
The people in Finland, Poland, Lithuania, to name a few, believe that. All those nations are actively preparing defenses for an invasion by Russia.
People in NATO countries who are inve$ted in this narrative one way or another are the ones who " believe " Russia is going to invade a NATO country covered by Article 5.
wallace
Ukraine became an independent country with the Fall of the Soviet Union. Long before Putin became president. Putin envies a return to those former Soviet days when he was KGB.
albaleo
Or to put it another way, the whole of Russia is theirs.
I find this whole thing mad. Surely the people of the various places in Ukraine should be able to decide their own status. The concept of "self-determination of peoples" is in the UN Charter.