Putin Hints At 'Settlement' To End Russia-Ukraine War, But Warns Of Nuclear Threat Again

Russia had expected the war to end in a matter of weeks with their victory, but the armed conflict has been raging for 10 months with Russian forces forced to retreat for several months.

File Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that his military operation was going as per plan.

New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that a settlement could end the war in Ukraine, days after saying that his "special military operation" could be a “long-term process”. But he also mentioned the potential for a nuclear war.

“The settlement process as a whole, yes, it will probably be difficult and will take some time. But one way or another, all participants in this process will have to agree with the realities that are taking shape on the ground,” the Russian President said at a press conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, as quoted by The Guardian.

As per the report, Putin once again mentioned the potential for a nuclear war saying that Russian nuclear doctrine doesn’t allow for a preventive strike and in the case of an all-out war, strikes against Moscow would be “inevitable.” “However, nothing will remain of the enemy,” he added.

Russia had expected the war to end in a matter of weeks with their victory, but the armed conflict has been raging for 10 months with Russian forces forced to retreat for several months.

Despite the scenario, Putin claimed that his military operation was going as per plan. “Everything is stable. There are no questions or problems there,” he said, claiming that information was being given to the public transparently, The Guardian reported.

Earlier, he spoke after an awards ceremony for “Heroes of Russia” at the Kremlin on Thursday and addressed a group of soldiers. Mentioning the targeted attacks by Russia, Putin placed the blame on Ukraine for the trend of attacking civilian infrastructure. He pointed to a blast on a key bridge between the Russian mainland and the annexed Crimean peninsula.

“Yes, we do that,” Putin said, of the strikes on the Ukraine grid. “But who started it? There’s a lot of noise about our strikes on the energy infrastructure of a neighbouring country. This will not interfere with our combat missions,” he said, as per The Guardian.

The statement comes even as reports of targeting civilian infrastructures have been surfacing right from the beginning of the armed attacks in February.

Ukraine had rejected Moscow’s claims that the strikes on its energy infrastructure were a retaliation for the Kerch bridge attack as the country's defence intelligence agency claimed that Russian military units had received instructions from the Kremlin to prepare massive missile strikes a week before the Crimean Bridge attack, The Guardian's report mentioned.

Putin alleged that Kyiv blew up power lines from the Kursk nuclear power plant and was not supplying water to Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

“Not supplying water to a city of more than a million people is an act of genocide,” Putin said, blaming the west for “complete silence” on these claims and of bias against Russia.

Last month, the Ukrainian prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin, said that Russia’s attacks on the Ukrainian energy grid were an act of genocide.