On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a grim warning to Ukrainian forces, saying he would “finish off” their troops, following his decision to launch attacks on a Ukrainian energy facility. This move came despite a previous ceasefire arrangement, backed by the United States, which called for a temporary halt to hostilities.
The assault targeted a Ukrainian position in Kherson on Thursday, violating a delicate agreement meant to pause military activity in the Black Sea region and suspend long-range strikes on critical energy infrastructure.
Despite earlier promises to stop targeting Ukrainian energy facilities, Putin insisted that Russian forces continue their offensive into Ukraine and even intensify their strikes.
“I was saying not so long ago: ‘We will finish them off.’ There are reasons to believe that we will finish them off,” Putin declared during his attendance at the International Arctic Forum in Murmansk, as reported by AFP.
Putin further emphasized Russia’s continued efforts, stating, “We are gradually, not as fast as some would like, but nevertheless persistently and confidently moving toward achieving all the goals stated at the beginning of the special operation.”
In a statement on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made it clear that Russia was not bound to uphold the ceasefire agreement when it came to strikes on energy facilities.
“The Russian side reached understanding and agreements with the US counterparts,” Peskov explained. “At the same time, the Russian side reserves the right in case of failure of the Kyiv regime to comply with it, certainly, not to follow it also.”
These remarks come as the United States seeks to rekindle relations with Moscow while simultaneously engaging in separate negotiations with both Russia and Ukraine to work toward a potential peace deal.
Following talks held in Saudi Arabia this week, the White House confirmed that both warring nations had agreed to develop methods for implementing an agreement that would halt attacks on energy infrastructure in Russia and Ukraine.
These discussions were conducted separately at Moscow’s request, so while both Russian and Ukrainian representatives were present in Saudi Arabia, they did not engage with each other directly.
Washington hopes to facilitate direct talks between the two countries, but first, they must “build confidence” in each other, Special Presidential Envoy to Ukraine Gen. Keith Kellogg explained to The Post on Tuesday.
“President Trump wants to see both Ukraine and Russia in talks together,” Kellogg noted. “The question of settling when and how that happens will be the result of what we call confidence-building measures over time.”
Foreign policy experts and international leaders have raised concerns that Putin may be trying to delay ceasefire negotiations without any genuine intention of bringing the war to an end.
Even former President Trump criticized Russia for “dragging their feet” in negotiations after Putin reneged on his commitment, launching a drone strike on the port city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine near the Black Sea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also accused Putin of stalling the peace talks to buy time for an offensive against the Sumy and Kharkiv regions this spring, as reported by the French newspaper Le Figaro on Thursday.
Zelensky explained that Putin had initially planned this offensive last fall, but Ukraine’s seven-month military operation in Russia’s Kursk region had diverted Moscow’s attention and halted the plan.
The operation concluded earlier this month, with Ukrainian forces retreating and returning the contested territory to Russian control.
During the summit in Murmansk, Putin also reiterated his desire to remove Zelensky from power, suggesting he would replace him with a “transitional administration … to organize a Democratic presidential election that would result in the coming to power of a competent government that would have the confidence of the people, and then begin negotiations with these authorities on a peace agreement and sign legitimate documents.”
{Matzav.com}The post Putin Threatens To ‘Finish Off’ Ukrainian Troops — After Bold Violation of US-Backed Partial Cease-Fire first appeared on Matzav.com.