Putin Warns Ukraine of 'Irreparable Blow' if War Continues

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday warned Ukraine that its statehood could suffer an "irreparable and very serious blow" if the war continues.

Putin made the remarks during a televised meeting with the heads of Russian municipalities while claiming his forces were winning the war he launched in February 2022.

His comments came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke about the conflict at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. During his speech, Zelensky again maintained he was against a ceasefire in the war at this time, instead saying only a decisive win for his country could bring an end to the fighting.

According to Russian state news agency Sputnik, Putin said Ukraine's much-publicized counteroffensive that launched in June had "failed," and that "the initiative is in the hands of the Russian Armed Forces."

"If this continues, Ukraine's statehood may face an irreparable and very serious blow," Putin added.

Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email on Tuesday night for comment.

Putin also criticized any talk of peace negotiations involving a formula that would see Russia conceding territory it has seized in Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula.

"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, per 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."

Putin also touched upon peace talks that were held during the early weeks of the war in Belarus and Turkey, claiming it was Ukraine who had walked away from the negotiating table after a tentative deal had been made.

"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 continued: "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."

Elsewhere during his televised comments, Putin addressed recent attacks on targets inside Russian territory that Russian officials have blamed on Ukraine, such as Belgorod. The Russian president denounced Kyiv for what he claimed were intentional hits on civilian infrastructure, an assertion that Ukraine has made against his forces after Russian assaults.

"But instead of solving military tasks, they are acting in this barbaric way, striking peaceful settlements using indiscriminate weapons. Multiple launch rocket systems are simply used to hit wide areas," Putin said.

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