Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested during an economic forum that the “whole of Ukraine” belongs to his country, even though Russia only controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory.
He made the comments on June 20 at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, where he also indicated that he wouldn’t “rule out” taking the northern Sumy region, which Russian troops have been rapidly advancing into in recent weeks. The regional capital of 250,000 people is located just over a dozen miles from the Russian border.
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“Where the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours,” Putin said.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, quickly condemned Putin’s remarks, which he called “deranged.”
“Putin’s cynical statements demonstrate complete disdain for US peace efforts,” he wrote on X. “While the United States and the rest of the world have called for an immediate end to the killing, Russia’s top war criminal discusses plans to seize more Ukrainian territory and kill more Ukrainians.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also responded to Putin’s comments, saying in a social media post June 21, “Yesterday, everyone heard the signals from Russia’s leader.”
“When Putin speaks about Ukraine and something else about Russian soldiers’ boots on the ground, he’s also speaking about Belarus, the Baltic states, Moldova, the Caucasus, countries like Kazakhstan, and every place on Earth that Russian killers can reach,” Zelenskyy said.
The back-and-forth comes nearly two weeks after Russia launched one of its largest air attacks on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, in over three years of war.
Before the current conflict, Putin has long sought to undermine Ukrainian independence, which was made official in 1991, the year the Soviet Union dissolved.
Ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine appear to have stalled since Russia laid out harsh conditions at the start of June, including a demand that Kyiv give up big chunks of territory. Ukraine rejected the terms.
Read more: Russia launches one of Ukraine war’s largest air attacks on Kyiv
Contributing: Reuters
Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Putin says ‘the whole of Ukraine is ours’
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