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Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that Moscow will seek to extend its gains in Ukraine if Kyiv and its Western allies reject the Kremlin’s demands in\u00a0peace talks.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S. President Donald Trump has unleashed an extensive diplomatic push<\/a> to end nearly four years of fighting following Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but Washington\u2019s efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands<\/a> by Moscow and Kyiv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking at an annual meeting with top military officers, Putin said Moscow would prefer to achieve its goals and \u201celiminate the root causes of the conflict\u201d by diplomatic means, but he added that \u201cif the opposing side and its foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive dialogue, Russia will achieve the liberation of its historical lands by military means.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ukraine and its Western allies regards Russia’s actions as a violation of its sovereignty and an unprovoked act of aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Putin claimed that \u201cthe Russian army has seized and is firmly holding strategic initiative all along the front line\u201d and warned that Moscow will move to expand a \u201cbuffer security zone\u201d alongside the Russian border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur troops are different now, they are battle-hardened and there is no other such army in the world now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Putin praised Russia’s growing military might and particularly noted the modernization of its atomic arsenal, including the new nuclear-capable intermediate range Oreshnik ballistic missile that he said will officially enter combat duty this month. Russia first tested a conventionally armed version of the Oreshnik to strike a Ukrainian factory in November 2024, and Putin has boasted that it’s impossible to intercept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His tough statements follow several rounds of talks this week between Ukrainian. American and European officials on a U.S.-drafted peace plan. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after meeting with U.S. envoys in Berlin that the document could be finalized within days, after which U.S. envoys will present it to the Kremlin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Putin wants all the areas in four key regions captured by his forces, as well as Crimea, which was illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory. He also has demanded that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow’s forces have not captured yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Kremlin also insists that Ukraine abandon its bid to join NATO and warns it won\u2019t accept the deployment of any troops from NATO members and will view them as \u201clegitimate target.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n