Russian President Vladimir Putin rejects proposals for peace negotiations with Ukraine, which is likely to escalate the conflict. About this Reports Reuters quoted three sources close to the Kremlin.
According to the agency, the intensified Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries have only strengthened Putin’s determination to continue hostilities. A Reuters interviewer who meets regularly with the Russian president said there was a “high probability” of escalation in the coming months. He did not specify what it would consist of.
One source said the Russian president had “taken a hard line” on the issue of seizing the rest of the Donetsk region – and that he had recently criticized a group of advisers who had suggested seeking a compromise based on a ceasefire along the front line. As another source pointed out to Reuters, Putin is “confident” that the Russian army will soon take control of Donbass.
When contacted by Reuters to comment on the story, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Russia is ready to reach a peaceful settlement, but it has sufficient capabilities to act independently and continue a special military operation.”
Putin recently made clear publicly that his plans to wage war would not be affected by Russian gasoline shortages (which have directly affected about a third of the country’s citizens) as a result of Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries. The President of the Russian Federation admitted that Kiev proposed “to stop strikes deep into the territory from both sides,” but Putin refused – after all, Russia’s long-range strikes are “much stronger, sensitive and, frankly, devastating.”
On July 8, Putin said that Ukraine was trying to create a “nervous situation in society” with its attacks and expressed confidence that it would not succeed, and that “the safety margin of the Russian energy system is very high – one of the highest in the world.”
Cover image: Sergey Bulkin / RIA Novosti / Sputnik / Profimedia