Russian President Vladimir Putin has “lost interest” in diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine and now simply intends to seize as much of that country’s territory as possible, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing three people who spoke about peace talks were informed.
The unnamed people given information about talks with the Russian leader said Putin had previously considered a peace deal after his initial military blunders but now no longer sees it as an option.
Two of the sources quoted Putin, who described the peace talks as a “dead end,” noting that he had become furious at Ukraine’s sinking of Russia’s Black Fleet flagship, the Moscow cruiser.
A source said Putin now has to “find a way to come out victorious,” but with the sinking of the Moscow River, “he doesn’t look like a victor because it was humiliating.”
Peace talks made some progress at a meeting in Istanbul last month but have since stalled. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for a face-to-face meeting with Putin, but the Russian leader is avoiding a summit “by all means,” a source said, because he wants “everything to be decided before their face-to-face meeting.”
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Putin told European Council President Charles Michel in a phone call on Friday that it was “not the right time” to meet Zelenskyy, said a person briefed on the call.
The negotiators understood this to mean that Putin wants to gain more territory rather than giving the talks time to thrive, the report said.
Kiev officials are concerned that Putin may try to go beyond simply conquering the eastern border region of the Donbass and attempt to seize control of the entire south-east of Ukraine and thus the country’s gateway to the sea, the report cites to those involved in peace efforts.
However, officials are also concerned that Putin could use tactical nuclear weapons if Ukraine could make military gains and push back Russian forces, two of the sources said.
Bodies of civilians lie on the ground as local residents walk past a destroyed part of the Illich Iron & Steel Works, the second largest metallurgical company in Ukraine, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatists in Mariupol, Ukraine, April 16 , 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)
All three sources said Putin has a distorted view of the situation in Ukraine and believes what his generals and reports on Russian television tell him.
He continues to insist that Russian forces are not targeting civilians, despite mounting evidence, they said.
The President “sincerely believes the nonsense he hears on TV and he wants to win big,” a person briefed on the peace talks was quoted as saying.
On Saturday, Zelenskyy said he was “not afraid to meet Putin” if it led to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
However, Zelenskyy reiterated his warning that Ukraine would break off talks if Russia killed the remaining Ukrainian soldiers in the besieged Black Sea port of Mariupol.
Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February, but apparent hopes of a quick victory were dashed by Ukraine’s resolute defense. Despite eight weeks of fighting, Russia is struggling to capture major cities, including the strategic port city of Mauripol and the capital Kyiv.
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