US-Ukraine talks in Miami, Putin: We will take Donbass by force or negotiations

“Russia will take full control of all of Donbas, either through negotiations or by force of arms.” A day after talks with US envoys on peace in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin made it clear that he has no intention of backing down from his main condition for ending the war.

In an interview with India Today, at the start of his visit to India, the Kremlin chief demanded the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the eastern region.

"Either we will liberate these territories by force of arms, or Ukrainian troops will have to withdraw and stop killing people," he declared.

President Putin praised his US counterpart Donald Trump, who he said was sincere in trying to find a solution, but added that it was not an easy mission. Putin's statements come shortly after the US president said that the Russian leader was genuinely interested in ending the war, according to the impressions of his envoys Steve Wittkoff and Jared Kushner during the talks in Moscow. Trump described Tuesday's talks as quite good, although the five-hour meeting with Putin did not produce any compromise.

"I don't know what the Kremlin is doing. I can tell you they had a very good meeting with President Putin. We'll find out. It's a war that should never have been started. If I was president, this war would never have happened. It's a terrible thing. But anyway, they had a very good meeting with President Putin. We'll see what happens," Trump said.

The White House confirmed that Wittkoff will meet with a Ukrainian delegation led by senior adviser Rustem Umerov in Miami on Thursday. Earlier on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the world currently feels there is a real opportunity to end the war, but that negotiations must be supported by increased pressure on Russia.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybhia said Russia must end the bloodshed and accused Putin of wasting the world's time.

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