Putin intends to continue the capture of Ukraine 0 4

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to continue the capture of Ukrainian territories. The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk "people's republics" ("DPR" and "LPR") "will be liberated in any case," Putin stated. "It all comes down to this. Either we will liberate these territories by armed means. Or the Ukrainian troops will leave these territories and cease fighting there," the Russian state news agency TASS quoted the Kremlin leader in an interview with the Indian television channel India Today. The interview is timed to coincide with Putin's visit to India, which will begin on Thursday, December 4.

According to the Russian president, the residents of these regions of Ukraine "voted for independence".

"We immediately told Ukraine, the Ukrainian troops: the people do not want to live with you, withdraw your troops and there will be no military actions. No, they preferred to fight, well, now they have fought to the end," Vladimir Putin said.

The transition of the entire Donbas, including territories not captured by Russian troops, under Russia's control is one of the points of the plan to end the war in Ukraine proposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Capture of "Donbas and Novorossiya"

In the headline of the TASS material about Putin's interview, the territories of Ukraine that the Russian president promised to capture in any case are referred to as "Donbas and Novorossiya," however, in the interview itself with India Today, he did not specify which regions he was talking about. From the context, it can be concluded that Putin was referring to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Putin's justification on Ukraine war endgame!
Two solutions to this war...Either Russia liberates Republics via war or Ukraine withdraws its troops: Putin. #VladimirPutin #PutinOnIndiaToday #GlobalSuperExclusive | @anjanaomkashyap @geeta_mohan @SuyeshaSavant pic.twitter.com/mZKd7cja84

— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) December 4, 2025

The plan proposed by Trump, consisting of 28 points, provides for the transfer of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine under Russia's control. At the same time, Moscow officially claims the territories of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, while the annexed Crimea, which was taken in 2014, and almost the entire Luhansk region are already under its control. Ukraine excludes the transfer of its territories to Moscow but states its readiness to discuss a ceasefire along the current front line.

The U.S. proposed to divide Trump's plan into four separate "packages"

In the same interview, Putin confirmed that during the meeting with U.S. President representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on December 2 in the Kremlin, Russia did not agree with some points of the American plan to end the war. The parties "had to go through each point" of the peace initiative, and consensus was not reached on a number of issues, Putin said.

"There were such issues, we discussed them, but it is a complex job. Somewhere we said that yes, we can discuss this, but we cannot agree to that. It was in this context that the conversation took place," he explained.

The Russian president also stated that the initial proposal of 28 points "has practically not changed," but the U.S. proposed to divide it into four separate "packages." It was previously reported that after the meeting of representatives of Ukraine and the EU with the United States in Geneva, the number of points was reduced to 19. The full texts of neither the 28 nor the 19 proposals have been officially published.

Putin called the meeting with Witkoff and Kushner "very useful." U.S. President Donald Trump also rated it highly, but the American side did not provide explanations on the substance of the negotiations.

Putin's attitude towards the idea of returning to the G7

The Russian president also rejected the point of the American peace plan that provides for Moscow's return to the "Group of Seven" (G7). Putin stated that he "practically stopped attending G8 summits" even before Russia was excluded in 2014. He indeed did not participate in the summits from 2009 to 2012, as during this period Dmitry Medvedev was the president of the Russian Federation, but in 2013, Putin did attend the meeting.

On December 4, it was announced that a large press conference and "direct line" with Vladimir Putin would take place on December 19.