Putin Vows to Seize Ukraine’s Donbas ‘By Force of Arms’

In an interview with India Today on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Moscow would seize Ukraine's Donbas region either by military force or through the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops, reiterating Moscow's territorial demands.

"It all comes down to this. Either we liberate these territories by force of arms, or Ukrainian troops leave these territories and stop fighting there," Putin said, ahead of a visit to New Delhi, where he is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This comes after Putin met with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow on Tuesday. The Russian president described the talks as "very useful," but noted it was a "difficult task" to agree on some points of the American proposals to end the conflict.