Putin says Russia’s planned border zone in Ukraine will be excluded from peace talks

Moscow, Russia. President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia was creating a security zone on Ukrainian territory beside the border and would not negotiate over it in future talks with Kyiv.

Putin links operation to Kursk incursion

Speaking in televised remarks while visiting a command post, Putin said the operation followed Ukraine’s 2024-25 incursion into the western Russian region of Kursk.

He told senior officers that Russian troops had been ordered both to drive Ukrainian forces out of Russia and to create a security zone across the border. He said that mission was progressing successfully.

“Our goal is to ensure the absolute security of Russia’s border regions for the future, and we do not plan to make this a subject for potential peace negotiations with Ukraine.”

Putin wore military clothing, an unusual choice for him, and delivered his comments with confidence and a hard-line tone.

Kremlin outlines planned zone

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, put the zone’s planned length at 660 km (410 miles), saying Russia already controlled 70 per cent of it. He gave no indication of its intended depth within Ukraine.

Establishing the zone requires Russia to take land in Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions. Neither is among the territories Moscow has claimed as Russian since starting the war in Ukraine in 2022.

Although Putin had previously advocated creating such a zone, he had not earlier specified its planned extent or ruled out discussing it in negotiations.

Diplomatic backdrop and territorial objectives

The remarks came at a critical stage in diplomacy surrounding the conflict, a week after an agreement to sell Russian diesel to the US. That deal had gained President Donald Trump’s favour and triggered a renewed deterioration in relations between Trump and Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Putin also said that slightly more than 10 per cent of Donetsk region remained outside Russian control, along with 16.5 per cent of Zaporizhzhia region. Capturing Donetsk is a key Russian objective.