Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on Could 22 that he ordered the navy to start making a "safety buffer zone" alongside the border with Ukraine, Russian state media retailers reported.
The feedback come a day after Putin made his first identified go to to Russia's Kursk Oblast, a border area the place Ukrainian forces launched an incursion final summer season. Whereas the Kremlin claims to have absolutely liberated the territory, Ukraine says operations are ongoing in Kursk.
"I’ve already mentioned {that a} resolution has been made to create the mandatory safety buffer zone alongside the border," Putin mentioned in a video convention with authorities officers.
"Our armed forces are at the moment fixing this downside."
Putin mentioned the zone could be alongside border of Kursk, Bryansk, and Belgorod oblasts.
Ukraine's International Ministry responded to the assertion later within the day, saying Putin's remarks are additional proof that Russia will not be meaningfully fascinated by peace.
"I remind the world that Putin's statements in regards to the 'buffer zone' come amid energetic efforts to attain a full, sturdy ceasefire, cease the killing, and advance peace," International Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
"These new aggressive claims clearly reject peace efforts and present that Putin has been and stays the one motive the killing continues. He must face extra strain to finish this battle."
International Ministry Spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi echoed these sentiments, calling Russia an "impediment to peace efforts" and suggesting that any future "buffer zone" be confined to Russian territory.
"These phrases show clearly that it’s Putin, it’s Russia that’s an impediment to peace efforts now and it’s they who should be pressured in all types to drive Russia and Putin to peace and to a full long-term ceasefire," he mentioned in a remark to a number of Ukrainian information retailers.
"And as for the 'buffer zones,' there is usually a 'buffer zone' on the territory of Russia, which is why Ukraine has been conducting an operation there since final yr."
Ukraine launched a cross-border incursion into Kursk Oblastin August 2024, marking the primary large-scale invasion of Russian territory by overseas forces since World Struggle II. Whereas a Russian counteroffensive — supported by North Korean navy personnel — recaptured a lot of the Ukrainian-occupied land in spring 2025, Ukrainian troops proceed to hold out missions throughout the border.
The Common Workers of Ukraine's Armed Forces mentioned on Could 21 that whereas circumstances within the area stay tough, Ukrainian forces are holding their positions and inflicting losses on Russian troops.
The Kursk operation efficiently thwarted Russia's plans to ascertain a "buffer zone" in Sumy Oblast in northeastern Ukraine, Commander in Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi mentioned in November 2024.
Putin's newest feedback concerning a buffer zone comes as Russia has as soon as once more rejected U.S. and European proposals for an entire ceasefire within the battle towards Ukraine. Putin didn’t comply with the phrases in a Could 19 cellphone name with U.S. President Donald Trump and the Kremlin has doubled down on its maximalist calls for.
Russian International Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed on Could 21 that Russia has no real interest in pursuing a ceasefire: "(W)e don’t need this anymore," he sais.
The Kyiv IndependentKyiv Independent
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