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Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has declared that Russia will “in any case” seize Donbas as well as Ukraine’s southern and eastern regions, repeating Kremlin narratives about so-called “Novorossiya.”
According to remarks cited by Russian state media, Putin claimed that Moscow had supposedly urged Ukraine “to withdraw its troops from Donbas and avoid military action,” but that “Kyiv chose to fight.”
“Russia will liberate Donbas and Novorossiya — by military or other means,” Putin said, using the imperial-era term “Novorossiya” to refer to Ukrainian territories in the south and east.
Talks on the U.S. peace plan
In November, the United States presented a new peace plan aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. The initial draft contained 28 points, later reduced after consultations.
U.S. and Ukrainian delegations held two rounds of discussions — first in Geneva on 23 November, then in Florida on 30 November — to revise the document in a way more favorable to Kyiv.
On 2 December, U.S. special envoy Steve Vitkoff and presidential adviser Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow to present the updated plan to Putin. After the five-hour meeting, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said no compromise had been reached yet, though both sides intended to continue talks. He also noted that the U.S. delegation had submitted four additional documents related to ending the war.
Ushakov’s wording was widely interpreted as a rejection of Washington’s plan, though Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later denied this.
