Putin distances the chances of peace with Ukraine on the same day that a Russian drone crashes in NATO territory

Vladimir Putin, in a live broadcast, before the unfiltered questions of dozens of Russian and foreign journalists. This is what happened this Thursday at the now classic annual meeting of the Russian president with the press (which exceptionally had not occurred in 2022). As expected, being the first major press conference since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, a good part of the four hours of interviews focused on the war. And as all the forecasts also indicated, Putin's answers were clear: “Peace will come when Russia achieves its objectives.”. At the same time that this was happening in Moscow, thousands of kilometers away, the Kremlin's military actions continued and in the context of the attacks on Ukraine, an alleged Russian drone crashed in Romanian territory, a NATO member country, setting off alarms.

“When will there be peace?” one of the moderators asked the Russian president, to which he responded that the objectives declared by Moscow three days before the start of the war “have not changed.” “They are the denazification of Ukraine, its demilitarization and its neutral status,” he said.

The questions about Ukraine continued for minutes and when asked about a possible peace process, Putin assured that kyiv does not want to sit at the negotiating table.. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky refuses to dialogue with Russia as long as Putin remains at the head of the Kremlin. For this reason, the Russian president assured that this pushes him to take “military measures.” “Either we agree on demilitarization, we agree on specific parameters, or we decide it by force,” he said.

In response to a question from a Russian war correspondent, Putin stressed that his troops have regained the initiative in almost all sectors. “Even being modest, practically on the entire front line our forces are improving their positions. Almost all of them are in the middle of active military actions,” he said.. Likewise, it estimated that 747 Ukrainian tanks and almost 2,300 armored vehicles had been destroyed since the beginning of kyiv's counteroffensive last June. “They achieved nothing anywhere,” he added. The last Ukrainian operation within the framework of the counteroffensive was the “landing attempt” on the left bank of the Dnieper River, in the Kherson region, Putin recalled. “I don't even know why they do it. They send their people to extermination. The Ukrainian military themselves recognize that it is a journey of no return,” he said.

Western media also attended the press conference, although not many had the opportunity to ask questions.. Regarding relations with the West, Putin assured that the conditions for resuming dialogue are not “yet” met: “It does not depend on us, we were not the ones who spoiled relations.”. “When they begin to respect other people, other countries, when they seek compromises instead of trying to solve their problems through sanctions or warlike actions, then the fundamental foundations will be laid for the restoration of relations,” he said.

Putin was also asked about the disappearance of the opponent Alexei Navalni from the prison where he was, a topic about which he did not want to reveal anything.. “What witch hunt are we talking about? What did (the witch) do that had to be hunted? Is he perhaps an important opposition politician?” he simply commented.

In addition to journalists, the Russian president also responded to some citizens, some of whom were very critical of the situation in the country.. One of the news that affects Russian citizens and that Putin clarified has to do with a possible new mobilization. “Why a mobilization then? Today there is no such need,” he said, adding that every day 1,500 volunteers get ready to fight.. He revealed that currently the Russian contingent in Ukraine is made up of 617,000 men, including career military personnel, mobilized personnel and volunteers.

Russian drone crashes in Romania

While Putin was the center of the conversation in Moscow, the war in Ukraine continued. In addition to the daily fighting that occurs on various fronts in the country, this Thursday a military action caused international concern. A suspected Russian drone crashed early in the morning in southeastern Romania, causing a 1.5-meter-deep crater in the town of Grindu, the Romanian Ministry of Defense acknowledged.

According to the military report, the Romanian Army detected the presence of several Russian drones near its airspace at a low altitude and deployed fighters, such as the F16 and Eurofighter, to monitor the area.. Shortly after, they found the crater with the Russian device and the Ministry of Defense, the Army and the local Police took the relevant security measures at the site of the incident, located 6.5 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and which left no one injured.

According to what has been learned, Russia attacked the southwest of Ukraine with dozens of drones overnight, where several export ports are located on the Danube and the Black Sea.. Although Russia has not commented at the moment, one of these attacks could have been diverted to Romanian territory. For its part, the Foreign Ministry vehemently condemned the incident and said it represents a new violation of Romanian airspace. The Russian ambassador in Romania was summoned to Bucharest, although no further information has emerged about the meeting. NATO has not wanted to comment on what happened either.