MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin made an emphatic declaration at a year-end news conference that there will be no peace in Ukraine until his objectives are achieved.
Offering rare insights into Moscow’s operation, Putin dismissed the need for a second wave of mobilization of reservists, revealing that there are an estimated 617,000 Russian soldiers currently in Ukraine. This includes approximately 244,000 troops who were called up to fight alongside professional Russian military forces.
Acclaimed and applauded as he arrived at the hall in central Moscow, Putin has decided to face the media once more following a significant year of developments and events shaping the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
The press conference opened with questions about the conflict in Ukraine, and Putin reiterated that Moscow’s goals in Ukraine — “de-Nazification, de-militarization and a neutral status” of Ukraine — remain unchanged.
He spelled out those objectives the day he sent troops to the country in February 2022,” he said, also adding that “There will be peace when we will achieve our goals.”
It is the first time Putin, who has heavily limited his interaction with foreign media, will potentially face multiple questions from Western journalists since before the fighting in Ukraine began.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, on Dec. 14, 2023.
AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool
