Kiev regime ‘not interested in peace,' turning to terror and suffering battlefield losses – Key points from Putin's speech
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine's leadership of carrying out terrorist attacks on Russian territory in order to derail peace efforts, which he said threaten the Kiev regime's grip on power.
Speaking at a government meeting on Wednesday, Putin said the recent sabotage of railway infrastructure in Russia's Bryansk and Kursk Regions was a deliberate strike on civilians intended to disrupt the negotiations. Kiev's backers have become 'accomplices to terrorists'
Putin said the attacks were the result of decisions made by Ukraine's top political leadership, calling them 'undoubtedly a terrorist act.'
'This only confirms our concern that the already illegitimate regime in Kiev, which once seized power, is gradually turning into a terrorist organization, and its sponsors are becoming accomplices to terrorists,' he said.
The two incidents occurred on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. In Bryansk Region, a bridge collapsed in front of a moving passenger train. In Kursk Region, a freight train derailed when a railway bridge gave way. In total, seven people died and over 120 were injured.
'Under all international norms, such actions are called terrorism,' Putin said. Ukraine's battlefield losses
The Russian president accused Kiev and its Western backers of previously aiming to inflict a strategic defeat of Russia on the battlefield. Now, he said, the country's leadership is shifting tactics amid mounting losses and as Ukrainian forces retreat along the front line.
'Today, amid heavy losses and retreating along the entire line of contact, the Kiev leadership has turned to organizing terrorist acts in an attempt to intimidate Russia,' Putin said.
He questioned the competence of Ukraine's leadership, under whose orders the Ukrainian armed forces have suffered 'senseless and enormous losses' – including during their now-repulsed incursion in Kursk Region – and continue to face defeat on the battlefield.
'What kind of authority can the leaders of a thoroughly rotten and completely corrupt regime possess?' Putin added.
Deliberate strikes to disrupt talks
Putin called Kiev's railway sabotage an 'intentional strike on the [Russian] civilian population.'
He said the 'crimes' committed against Russian civilians – including women and children – were timed to disrupt the peace process.
Both attacks came shortly before the second round of Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul and amid a surge in Kiev's drone raids into Russia, which Moscow says are aimed at derailing attempts to reach a settlement in the conflict.
Speaking about Kiev's apparent attempts to undermine the peace efforts, Putin noted that Ukrainian officials simultaneously requested a ceasefire lasting 30 to 60 days, along with a top-level meeting.
'But how can such meetings be held under these conditions?' he said. 'What is there to talk about? Who conducts negotiations with those who rely on terror – with terrorists?'
He warned that any pause would only allow the Ukrainian forces to regroup, receive more Western arms, and prepare for renewed hostilities. Kiev regime not interested in peace
Ukraine has repeatedly rejected Russia's proposals for a short-term ceasefire on humanitarian grounds, Putin said.
'It does not surprise us and only convinces us further that today's Kiev regime does not want peace at all,' he stated. 'For them, peace most likely means a loss of power.'
Putin emphasized that 'power, for the [Kiev] regime, is apparently more important than peace, more important than human lives.' Kiev's lack of political culture
Putin also accused the Ukrainian leadership of lacking basic political culture, pointing to recent public remarks. This week, Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky referred to Russia's negotiators as 'idiots' after Moscow proposed a brief truce to recover fallen soldiers' bodies.
'Apparently, we are dealing with people who not only have no real competence in anything but also lack even a basic political culture if they allow themselves to make certain statements – including direct insults – against those they claim to want to negotiate with,' Putin said.
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