MOSCOW, Sept 1 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was winning the war in Ukraine and portrayed the Ukrainian leadership as “terrorists” with whom it was not possible for Moscow to negotiate.
Putin, in his most detailed comments on the war for many weeks, acknowledged that Ukrainian attacks inside Russia had inflicted real damage and said that drones posed a particular challenge.
But he said that Russia was advancing on the battlefield and told reporters: “I have no doubt the enemy will crumble.”
He declined to say when that would happen.
Rumours that Russia would be forced to order a new military mobilisation were “utter nonsense,” he said.
Russian troops had captured 270 square km (168 square miles) of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine in August and a large group of Ukrainian troops were surrounded, Putin said.
Reuters could not independently verify his statement.
Russia continues to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Putin said, adding that Moscow’s forces were preparing to launch massive strikes against energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
Putin said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s warning to airlines that Ukrainian drones would effectively shut down Russian airspace sounded like “state terrorism” and that Moscow would find a way to respond if it happened.
Speaking at a news conference after a summit in Kyrgyzstan, Putin said it was not possible to negotiate with “terrorists”.
He also said, however, that Moscow was open to “concrete” talks on settling the Ukraine conflict if new momentum could be injected.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, Ksenia Orlova, Maxim Rodionov, Filipp Lebedev, Darya Korsunskaya, Anton Kolodyazhnyy and Andrew Osborn, writing by Mark TrevelyanEditing by Andrew Osborn)
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