President Vladimir Putin said the war in Ukraine will end only when Ukrainian forces withdraw from territory claimed by Moscow, including areas Russia seized and later declared its own.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Kyrgyzstan, Putin repeated his long‑standing demand that Kyiv recognise Russian control over territories taken since 2014. These include Crimea, which Russia annexed, and large parts of the Donbas region, where Moscow has backed separatists for years.

Ukraine still holds parts of Donetsk and Luhansk, the two regions that make up Donbas, and has consistently rejected ceding territory to Russia. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin’s remarks had “undermined” ongoing efforts to halt the fighting.

Putin accused Ukraine of pursuing a fight “until there is only one person left,” adding that Russia was prepared for such a confrontation “in principle.” He repeated that Russia retains the capacity to escalate the conflict and warned that the war would continue until Ukrainian troops fully withdraw from Donbas.

“If they do not leave, we will achieve this by force of arms,” he said.