“Aren’t They Fools?”: Putin Says Ukrainian Statehood Risks ‘Irreparable Blow’ If War Continues

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave statements on Tuesday which assessed the overall status of the nearly two-year conflict with Ukraine at a moment Western and world leaders meet in Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF). Zelensky while there in Switzerland pressed Ukraine’s case for the need to achieve air superiority. 

But Putin in his fresh remarks stressed that not only do Russian forces have the clear upper hand, but he emphasized for the first time that Ukrainian statehood itself risks an “irreparable” blow if the war continues. He stressed that Ukraine’s military has already “failed”.

“Not only has their counteroffensive failed, but the initiative is entirely in the hands of the Russian Armed Forces,” Putin said in the televised remarks. “If this continues, Ukraine’s statehood could be dealt an irreparable, very serious blow,” he added, but he didn’t clarify further precisely what he meant by this.

Kremlin pool, EPA/EFE

“They are trying to show that they can also do something. But instead of solving military tasks, they act in such a barbaric way. Attacks are being carried out on peaceful settlements with indiscriminate weapons,” Putin said in reference to the past several weeks of cross-border attacks on Belgorod city, which have killed and maimed Russian civilians. 

Putin further addressed Zelensky’s efforts to gather world leaders for a peace summit hosted by Switzerland, to consider Kiev’s 10-point peace plan, which it should be noted rejects the possibility of territorial concessions.

“The so-called ‘peace formula’ that’s being talked about in the West and in Ukraine is a continuation of the decree of the Ukrainian president banning negotiations with Russia,” Putin said, according to a translation in Sputnik.

“As for the negotiating process, it’s an attempt to encourage us to abandon the territorial gains we’ve achieved over the past 1 1/2 years. But this is impossible. Everyone understands that this is impossible,” the Russian leader continued.

He explained that earlier in the conflict, the two sides were close to serious negotiations that could have led to peace, but that ultimately Zelensky allowed himself to be the puppet of Western powers…

“A day later, they threw all the agreements into the trash, and now they are saying publicly—including the head of the Ukrainian negotiating group—that ‘Yes, we were ready, but we missed the chance, because then-Prime Minister of Britain Mr. [Boris] Johnson came and persuaded us not to implement these agreements,’” Putin said.

He stressed: “Fools, are they not? They’re admitting directly that if they had gone for it, everything could have been ended a long time ago, 1 1/2 years ago.”

Lately, Ukraine has been seeking to get China involved in getting on board with its peace formula. Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak on Sunday said, “China needs to be involved in talks to end the war with Russia.” He issued the words just ahead of the WEF. China remains the most influential Global South country widely viewed as squarely in Russia’s corner, having refused to rebuke Moscow or join Western-led sanctions after two years of the conflict. Kiev hopes to get Global South countries on its side, thus further isolating Moscow – but so far this has proved somewhat futile.