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Agence France-Presse

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that a “significant part” of Ukraine “wants to be Russia,” hours after US President Donald Trump floated the idea that Ukraine “may be Russian someday”.
Addressing the three-year conflict between Moscow and Kyiv in a Fox News interview that aired on Monday, Trump said: “[Ukraine] may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the situation in Ukraine “largely corresponds to President Trump’s words”.
“The fact that a significant part of Ukraine wants to become Russia, and has already, is a fact,” he told reporters, referring to Moscow’s 2022 annexation of four Ukrainian regions.
“Any phenomenon can happen with a 50 per cent probability – either yes or no,” Peskov added.
Trump has made ending the fighting one of his priorities for his first months in the White House.
Moscow has welcomed his focus on ending the conflict and Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is ready for direct talks with Trump on a possible agreement.
Kyiv fears that any settlement that does not include hard military commitments for its security – such as Nato membership or the deployment of Western peacekeeping troops – will just allow the Kremlin time to regroup and rearm for a fresh offensive.
Ukrainian President VolodymyrZelensky has, meanwhile, rejected any territorial concessions to Moscow, though he has acknowledged that Ukraine might have to rely on diplomatic means to secure the return of some territory.
Zelensky will meet US Vice-President J.D. Vance at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, the Ukrainian president’s spokesman said.
Trump will also dispatch his special envoy Keith Kellogg to Ukraine later this month to further discuss a possible road map for ending the conflict.
Both armies are trying to secure an advantage on the battlefield ahead of possible talks.


Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday its troops had captured the small village of Yasenove in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Overnight the two sides traded long-range attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure.
Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces had struck an oil refinery in Russia’s Saratov region, sparking a fire.
“Strikes on strategic targets involved in the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine will continue,” it said in a statement.
The governor of the Russian region had earlier reported a drone attack on an industrial site, without specifying where.
Russia’s defence ministry also said it had struck Ukrainian gas and energy sites that support Kyiv’s army in an overnight aerial attack.
Naftogaz, the Ukrainian national gas company, confirmed one of its facilities in the eastern Poltava region had been damaged in the “massive” Russian attack overnight.
Temporary power cuts – frequent across Ukraine – were put in place on Tuesday morning following the strike.
Moscow has pursued a months-long bombing campaign against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, claiming the attacks targeted facilities that aid Kyiv’s military.
Ukraine has carried out its own strikes on Russian energy and military installations, and Moscow has accused it of using US- and British-supplied missiles to strike deep inside Russian territory.


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Ukraine war

Moscow latches onto Trump’s Ukraine ‘may be Russian someday’ idea

Ukrainian servicemen operate a tank at an undisclosed location in the Kharkiv region on February 10. Photo: EPA-EFE

Trump says Putin ‘wants to see people stop dying’ in Ukraine war

Servicemen camouflage their tank in the Kharkiv region, eastern Ukraine, on February 6. Photo: EPA-EFE

Trump floats Ukraine ‘may be Russian someday’ ahead of Zelensky-Vance meeting

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet US Vice-President J.D. Vance on Friday. Photo: AFP

A Ukrainian self-propelled howitzer fires towards Russian positions at the front line in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. Photo: AP

Russian soldiers prepare to fire toward Ukrainian positions in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. Photo: Russian Defence Ministry via AP

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. Photo: AFP

Russian servicemen wave flags on the roof of a building in Velyka Novosilka, Donetsk region, in January. Photo: Russian Defence Ministry via EPA-EFE 

News

World

Russia & Central Asia

The Kremlin says a ‘significant part of Ukraine wants to be Russia’, echoing the US president’s remarks on the war-torn country’s future


The Kremlin says a ‘significant part of Ukraine wants to be Russia’, echoing the US president’s remarks on the war-torn country’s future.
