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By Kaitlin Lewis
Night Reporter
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow will not end its war against Kyiv until his country achieves "denazification," "demilitarization" and neutrality in Ukraine.
Speaking at his annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow on Thursday, the Kremlin leader said that Russia will not budge on its demands, and vowed to only end its offensive in Ukraine if his goals are reached or if Kyiv accepts a deal that achieves them.
"The peace will come when we reach our goals that you have mentioned," Putin said while fielding questions from Russian media and the public. "And coming back to the goals, they remain unchanged. I will remind you it means denazification, demilitarization of Ukraine and its neutral status."
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A translation of Putin's comments were posted by Bloomberg Television to YouTube.
Thursday's event was the first time that Putin has fielded comments from the public since launching his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It also arrives less than a week after he announced his reelection campaign, ahead of Russian voters taking to the polls in March.
According to Reuters' report, Putin added during the conference that if Ukraine does not want to reach an agreement to meet his demands, such as the demilitarization of Ukraine, "Well, then we are forced to take other measures, including military ones."
"Either we get an agreement, agree on certain parameters ... or we solve this by force," Putin said. "This is what we will strive for."
Newsweek reached out to Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on Thursday via email for comment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that negotiations with Moscow cannot be discussed until all Russian-occupied territory is returned to Kyiv's control. Ukraine leaders have also repeatedly denied accusations from Putin that the country is run by a Nazi regime.
Shortly after launching its invasion, Russia offered to end the fighting in Ukraine if Kyiv agreed to abandon its goal of joining NATO, according to Kyiv officials familiar with the conversations. Putin has previously blamed Western support for Ukraine's military on escalating the nearly 22-month war, and on Thursday blamed the West's influence on Kyiv's government for forcing Russia into war.
"The unbridled desire to creep towards our borders, taking Ukraine into NATO, all this led to this tragedy," he said, according to Reuters. Putin also pressured the United States to seek a peaceful end to the war instead of relying on "sanctions and military intervention."
Newsweek also reached out to the U.S. State Department on Thursday via email for comment.
U.S. President Joe Biden reiterated during Zelensky's visit to Washington, D.C., this week that he "will not walk away from Ukraine, and neither will the American people."
The Democratic president also put pressure on Republican lawmakers who have blocked Biden's request for additional funding for Ukraine. The GOP members of Congress seek a deal that would also boost funding for U.S. border control and immigration policies.
"Holding Ukraine funding hostage in an attempt to force through an extreme Republican partisan agenda on the border is not how it works," Biden said during his meeting with Zelensky at the White House. "We need real solutions."
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