Posted on 06/21/2025 4:30:54 AM PDT by tlozo
- Russian President Vladimir Putin quipped on Friday (June 20) that in his view the whole of Ukraine was "ours" and cautioned that advancing Russian forces could take the Ukrainian city of Sumy as part of a bid to carve out a buffer zone along the border.
Putin, who ordered troops into Ukraine in 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine, also said he was not seeking the capitulation of Ukraine or denying Ukraine's sovereignty, but that Ukraine had to be neutral.
Russia currently controls about a fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea, more than 99 per cent of the Luhansk region, over 70 per cent of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and fragments of the Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Asked about fresh Russian advances, Putin told the St Petersburg International Economic Forum that he considered Russians and Ukrainians to be one people and "in that sense the whole of Ukraine is ours".
Kyiv and its Western allies say Moscow's claims to four Ukrainian regions and Crimea are illegal, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly rejected the notion that Russians and Ukrainians are one people.
He has also said that Putin's terms for peace are akin to capitulation.
Putin said on Friday he was not questioning Ukraine's independence or its people's striving for sovereignty, but he underscored that when Ukraine declared independence as the Soviet Union fell in 1991 it had also declared its neutrality.
Putin said Moscow wanted Ukraine to accept the reality on the ground if there was to be a chance of peace - Russia's shorthand for the reality of Russia's control over a chunk of Ukrainian territory bigger than the US state of Virginia.
"We have a saying, or a parable," Putin said. "Where the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours."
Putin said Russian forces were carving out a buffer zone in Ukraine's Sumy region in order to protect Russian territory and said he did not rule out those same troops taking control of the regional capital of Sumy.
The depth of the zone under Russian control in the Sumy region was 8-12 km, Putin said.
"Next is the city of Sumy, the regional centre. We don't have the task of taking it, but in principle I don't rule it out," he said.
No one cares about the grifter war - It is Iran vs Israel 24/7 - Hope you keep getting paid to post.
Lol, except if you happen to be one of Russia's neighbors, Finland, Estonia, Poland, etc then yes, you do care that Putin says: "Where the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours."
that being said...
Rus” (or “Rus’”) can refer to several things, primarily related to medieval Eastern Europe and its history. It can refer to: 1) a group of Norsemen (Vikings) who settled in Eastern Europe and formed the early state of Kievan Rus’; 2) the medieval state itself, Kievan Rus’, which encompassed parts of modern-day Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus; and 3) a name used to denote the people and lands associated with that state. The term “Rus” ........... ..can also be used as a symbol of cultural identity and historical connection, particularly in Ukraine and Russia.
\ Kiev was the capital of proto Russia before there even ever was a campfire in Moscow.
to separate Ukraine from Russia is akin to separate the US from the 13 colonies.
in that sense, Ukraine is Russia. soviet Russia fell , and Ukraine was given Independence they have the right of democratic self determination. and the donbas did vote to rejoin Russia and then came victoria newland and her ilk and ran a color revolution coup , removed the democratically elected government and started the conflict with Russia. Ukraine's self determination came to an end. so this conflict isnt solely Russia's fault.
:-)
;-)
Lol, are you Putin? Even Lenin had to recognize the Ukrainian State as a separate entity.
Three years of war, has clearly shown that Ukrainians are NOT Russians and do no NOT want to be under Putin's boot.
You can’t argue or reason with the Russian troll farm in here. I wish the FR powers-that-be would put a stop to this crap. The Russians in here have ruined FR.
Kiev was the traditional and historical cultural and political center of the Rus.
Moscow was a puppet created by the Mongols to keep the Slavs in line.
Russian occupation forces held a bogus referenda that are as trustworthy as a North Korean election. Polls conducted in 2020 and 2022, however, showed otherwise:
2020But this will not stop some from quoting those bogus Russian referenda.Union with Ukraine: 54.5%
Union with Russia: 29.3%
Independence: 6.8%
Don't know or refused to answer: 18.6%2022
Union with Ukraine: 49.7%
Union with Russia: 22.8%
Independence: 8.9%
Don't know or refused to answer: 18.6%
“ Once Ukraine kicks out the Russians, Ukrainian soldiers should step into Russian territory and declare ownership immediately.”
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Sounds fair enough as long as not one penny of American taxpayers’ money is involved. You, as an individual, are free to send YOUR MONEY and YOUR CHILDREN to support your friends.
[ Ukraine Frontline Changes ] RUSSIA GOES DEEPER!!! Into Malynivka and Yablunivka...
Vladolf Putler is the Komisar of a totalitarian state. His soldiers advance to destruction flying the hammer and sickle. He channels his grandfather, cook for Lenin and Stalin, and longs for the “good old days” when the Russian people were serfs under the terror regime of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He only wishes to turn back to the clock and re-subjugate the Ukrainian homeland. Were he a better student of history he would know the free Cossacks of Ukraine to cherish liberty and independence.
Would that this poison troll had read and heeded Solzhenitzyn’s masterpiece HOW SHALL WE REARRANGE RUSSIA (abominably titled REBUILDING RUSSIA, for perestroits means to rearrange and stroits to build). In that book Alexandr Isaievich outlined a humane path. Putler cannot comprehend humanity. His mind is focused on not going the way of Beria and Ceaucescu.
pooty lies!
Ukraine is an old, old country, at least 1,000 years old!
Russia wasn’t even dreamed of then.
pooty is an evil man.
Yes, “Adorno”, we know well that you’re a member in good standing of the OTHER-PEOPLE’S-MONEY crowd and you revel in that status. And, by the way, don’t try to use the “sunk cost” fallacy on us… most FReepers are too smart to fall for that.
And it would be nice to see your name as a regular contributor as a Free Republic supporter. Oh, I forgot, you’re a PROUD member of the OTHER-PEOPLE’S-MONEY club. We never see their names up there.
Contributor or no, what does that have to do with the topic at hand?
Trying to shame me into contributing?
“ Trying to shame me into contributing?”
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Dude, the members of the PARASITIC OTHER-PEOPLE’S-MONEY club, in which you are a PROUD member, are INCAPABLE OF SHAME.
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