Vladimir Putin: Na Ukrajine naháňajú mužov ako túlavých psov - My nechceme isť s Európou do vojny!

Some countries in Europe, for instance, or in other parts of the world, want to fight Russia with the goal of weakening it. But is that really the national idea of Ukraine itself? And they have been saying all along that they are ready to fight to the last Ukrainian. But how does the Ukrainian leadership itself treat its own citizens? They also treat them like expendable material, just like those abroad who want to fight us. After all, these are their own citizens who are doing the fighting. True, we see that they are being rounded up like stray dogs on the streets and forced to the front lines. By the way, this leads to severe consequences. Motivation is declining. Yes, there are still motivated nationalist units there, they exist, but to put it mildly, they are far from always fighting on the front lines. It is those who have been forcibly conscripted who are thrown onto the front lines. Well, what about the nearly official data on half a million deserters; officially, over 300,000 criminal cases have been opened, and in reality, they are already speaking about this almost publicly. 500,000, half a million, but in reality, I think the number is even higher. By the way, this is also well known in the West. Therefore we have always stood for a peaceful resolution. From the very first days >> following your meeting yesterday with Witkoff, several rather positive statements with cautious optimism have been made. Both Witkoff and Trump are advocating for a peaceful settlement. Zelenskyy has started making more careful and cautious statements. And it is notable that just the other day, in a public TV interview, when asked directly whether he was ready to acknowledge the loss of territories, he replied: "Yes, I am ready." And what is your state of mind? >> My attitude toward this matter, first of all, is that this is not their territory. This is the territory of historical Russia. Especially since the people living in these territories voted, firstly, for state independence, and as a second step, they voted—I want to emphasize this—for reunification with the Russian Federation. So, talking about some kind of territorial losses, it seems to me, is inappropriate. Well, that is a debatable question; one can argue about it as much as they like. As is well known, this became the reason or pretext for some of our ill-wishers abroad, primarily, as we see today in European countries, to launch an anti-Russian campaign across all fronts , and now they are constantly talking about a threat from Russia and the start of preparations for a war with Russia, which, in my opinion, is some kind of political schizophrenia. But I hope this will pass as well. It has become obvious to everyone that it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield. Inflicting a strategic defeat is unrealistic. I think that those people who have sought the strategic defeat of Russia throughout the ages, and unfortunately such people exist today as well, will realize the realities of modern life and understand that it is better to live in peace with Russia; it is in the interests of their peoples. Because if you look at the political processes taking place in Europe itself, it becomes obvious that the peoples of Europe do not want to fight with Russia. I want us to be heard. And we do not want, we are not preparing for any kind of war with Europe. But why did today's Ukrainian leadership decide that everyone, the whole world, must pay this Ukrainian leadership, fight for them, supply weapons, ammunition, equipment, and so on? This is incomprehensible. Well, they want to fight. We do not want to fight with Ukraine. But if today's Ukrainian leadership wants to fight, well, let them fight. But why do they think that everyone must pay for this and supply them with weapons? y