Putin, ignoring Trump, may continue war in Ukraine - Reuters
Kyiv • UNN
Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to continue the war in Ukraine, ignoring Donald Trump's threats of sanctions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to continue the war in Ukraine until the West agrees to his peace terms, ignoring Donald Trump's threats of tougher sanctions. This is reported by Reuters, citing three sources close to the Kremlin, who note that amid the advance of Russian troops, Putin's territorial demands may even increase, writes UNN.
Details
According to sources, Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in the east.
On Monday, Trump expressed disappointment over Putin's refusal to agree to a ceasefire and announced a new wave of arms supplies to Ukraine, including Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems. He also threatened new sanctions against Russia if a peace agreement is not reached within 50 days.
Russian sources note that Putin will not stop the war under Western pressure and believes that Russia, which has already withstood the harshest sanctions, will be able to survive further economic restrictions, including potential US tariffs against countries buying Russian oil.
Putin believes that no one has seriously negotiated with him on peace terms in Ukraine - not even the US. So he will continue until he gets what he wants
Despite several phone calls between Trump and Putin, as well as visits to Russia by US Special Representative Steve Witkoff, Putin, according to sources, believes that there have been no concrete negotiations on the fundamentals of a peace agreement.
The White House did not comment on this information.
Putin's conditions for achieving peace, according to the interlocutors, include: a legally enshrined ban on further NATO expansion eastward, Ukraine's neutral status and limitations on its armed forces, protection of the rights of the Russian-speaking population, and recognition of Russia's territorial gains.
Also, according to sources, Putin is ready to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine with the participation of key international players, although it is not yet clear how this will be implemented.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that Kyiv will never recognize Russia's sovereignty over the occupied territories, and that Ukraine has the sovereign right to decide on NATO membership. The President's Office did not provide a comment.
It is noted that Putin considers achieving military goals much more important than possible economic losses, and is not overly concerned about US threats to impose tariffs on buyers of Russian oil in China and India.
Two sources claim that Russia has an advantage on the battlefield, and its military industry exceeds NATO's production capacity in critical types of ammunition, such as artillery shells.
Trump said he was "disappointed but not done" with Putin15.07.25, 08:54 • 5268 views
As of July 1, 2025, Russia controls about 20% of Ukraine's territory and has advanced 1415 km² in the last three months, according to open-source map DeepStateMap.
Currently, Russia controls Crimea, the entire Luhansk region, over 70% of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, as well as parts of Kharkiv, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk. Publicly, Putin insists that these five regions are part of Russia, and that Ukraine must withdraw its troops before any peace agreements.
According to sources, Putin may continue the war until the complete collapse of Ukrainian defense and further expand his territorial ambitions.
"Russia will act based on Ukraine's weakness," said the third interlocutor. If Ukrainian resistance is strong enough, Moscow may stop the offensive after capturing the four eastern regions. "But if Ukraine falls - the capture will continue to Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, and Kharkiv regions."
Zelenskyy noted that Russia's summer offensive did not meet Moscow's expectations. The Ukrainian military command acknowledges the enemy's numerical superiority, but states that Ukrainian troops are holding the defense and inflicting significant losses on the enemy.