22 June 2025, 16:50<\/p>\n
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President Vladimir Putin made the comments at an economic forum in St Petersburg on Friday.<\/p>\n
Picture: In a sharp contrast to recent Kremlin rhetoric on Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin laid claim to all of Ukraine and threatened a nuclear strike for the first time in months.<\/p>\n Vladimir Putin insisted that Russia will not relinquish any occupied territory as part of peace negotiations with Ukraine.<\/p>\n On Friday, the Russian president told business leaders in St Petersburg: “I have said many times that I consider the Russian and Ukrainian people to be one nation.”<\/p>\n “In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours.”<\/p>\n “There is an old rule,” he said. “‘Where a Russian soldier sets foot, that is ours’.”<\/p>\n He also threatened a nuclear strike on Ukraine for the first time in months, promising “catastrophic” consequences if Kyiv used a dirty bomb against Russian forces.<\/p>\n “This would be a colossal mistake on the part of those whom we call neo-Nazis on the territory of today’s Ukraine,” he said. “It could be their last mistake.”<\/p>\n Read More: Regime change in Iran is ‘unacceptable’, Kremlin warns, as Israel says Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ‘cannot continue to exist’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Read More: One dead and 14 injured as Russia launches wave of strikes on Odesa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Firefighters put out a fire following Russia’s massive air attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, June 20, 2025.<\/p>\n
\nAlamy
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