Russia’s Vladimir Putin gloated over Ukraine losing international support and hinted at plans to take more Ukrainian territory at his annual call-in program Thursday.
Looking heavily botoxed, Putin responded to hundreds of questions ostensibly sent in by citizens, on everything from egg prices to measles to political prisoners and the war against Ukraine. All of the questions—displayed on a huge screen as Putin responded—were prescreened by staffers in the presidential administration, according to Baza.
Asked when the war would end, Putin offered a blunt response that should shatter any illusions of the Kremlin being willing to negotiate: “There will be peace only when we achieve our goals,” he said.
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He went on to boast that Russian troops in Ukraine are only strengthening their positions after a series of battlefield failures last year, saying, “Our Armed Forces are improving their position along practically the whole line of contact.”
Apparently hinting at plans to attempt more territorial takeovers, Putin claimed Ukraine “has no relation” to the Black Sea region and suggested it was somehow common knowledge that this territory actually belongs to Russia.
“Odesa is a Russian city. We know this, everyone knows this. No, they made up a bunch of historical nonsense [to claim it as their own],” Putin said of the Ukrainian port city his troops have routinely fired missiles at since the start of the full-scale invasion last year.
Separately, Putin appeared to stifle a grin as he spoke of Western aid supplies to Ukraine drying up. Noting that Kyiv has been relying on international partners for military supplies, he said the “handouts” would end eventually.
“And from the looks of it, they’re ending [now.]”
Meanwhile, he claimed the Russian economy was thriving.
“Those who thought that everything would collapse with us, they were wrong, nothing collapsed [in Russia],” Putin said.
While Russians’ fatigue with the war came up among the questions posed to Putin, he appeared to offer carefully scripted responses designed to feign empathy.
Asked about problems facing private military companies, for example, Putin launched into a response about how people “close” to him “had given their lives for their homeland” while serving in such mercenary groups. It was the closest he came to mentioning the late Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, his longtime ally who was killed in a plane crash earlier this year that was widely believed to be a Kremlin-orchestrated hit.
The Russian president was also trolled a few times throughout the hours-long press conference with questions that were apparently deliberately allowed to convey an atmosphere of free speech and legitimacy.
“Why does your reality differ from reality?” one question read. “Who will be president of the Russian Federation after you?”
“You don’t need to run for another term—make way for the youth!”
“Why are they opening educational institutions for sorcerers, they used to burn them?”
