Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Thursday that there would be no peace in Ukraine until his goals are achieved. At a year-end news conference that offers the leader an opportunity to reinforce his grip on power, Putin said Moscow's goals in Ukraine remain unchanged. Giving rare detail on what Moscow calls its special military operation, Putin dismissed the need for a second wave of mobilization of reservists to fight in Ukraine—a move that proved deeply unpopular in the past. He said there are some 617,000 Russian soldiers currently there, including around 244,000 troops who were called up to fight alongside professional Russian military forces, the AP reports.
The press conference in a hall in central Moscow opened with questions about the conflict in Ukraine and highlighted concerns some Russians have about fears of another wave of mobilization. In September 2022 Putin ordered a partial military call-up as he tried to boost his forces in Ukraine, sparking protests. "There is no need" for mobilization now, Putin said, because 1,500 men are being recruited into the Russian army every day across the country. Putin's last news conference was in 2021 amid US warnings that Russia was on the brink of sending troops into Ukraine. Putin did not hold his traditional press conference last year after his military failed to take Kyiv and as the Ukrainian army retook swaths of territory in the east and south of the country.
But with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky now forced to plead for more US aid, a stalling counteroffensive, and reports of fracturing Western support for Ukraine, the Russian president decided to face the media once more—though the broadcast remained heavily choreographed and more about spectacle than scrutiny. Putin said Russian troops are making progress in Ukraine and he is confident that Western support will collapse, the Washington Post reports. "Today, Ukraine produces almost nothing," Putin said, adding that "freebies" from the West "may end at some point and apparently it's coming to an end little by little."
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Putin reiterated that Moscow's goals in Ukraine—"de-Nazification, de-militarization, and a neutral status" of Ukraine—have not changed. He spelled out those loosely defined objectives the day he sent troops into the country in February 2022. "De-Nazification" refers to Russia's allegations that the Ukrainian government is heavily influenced by radical nationalist and neo-Nazi groups—claims derided by Kyiv and the West. Putin has also demanded that Ukraine remain neutral, and not join the NATO alliance. "There will be peace when we will achieve our goals," Putin said, repeating a frequent Kremlin line. (Putin will seek another six years in power in an election in March next year.)
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