In an unapologetic interview Russian President Vladimir Putin made it crystal clear: Russia will not give up until ‘all of Ukraine is ours’ — and he’s daring the West to try and change that.
Putin doubled down on Russia’s stance, insisting that any so-called “peace” negotiations must respect the “will of the people” living in the annexed Ukrainian regions — referendums that Western leaders love to dismiss as “shams.”
But from Putin’s perspective, this is about democracy — Russian-style. “The will of the people is what we call democracy,” he said, referring to the 2022 referendums in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea, all of which voted overwhelmingly to join Russia. Of course, the West screamed “illegitimate,” but that hasn’t stopped Moscow from moving forward with full-on integration.
PUTIN: “I have already said many times: Russians and Ukrainians are one people— in this sense, the whole of Ukraine is ours… But we have never questioned Ukraine’s sovereignty. At the same time, the conditions under which Ukraine became independent were set forth in the 1991… pic.twitter.com/nV4Fbf4Grr
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) June 20, 2025
Putin’s message to Ukraine’s leadership? Stop being Washington’s puppet. “I hope Ukraine’s leaders will be guided