Putin claims he has no plans ‘as of today’ to capture Kharkiv
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Vladimir Putin has said Russia has no plans to capture the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv as he discussed the possibility of peace talks with Xi Jinping, the Chinese president.
Russian forces have been advancing in Ukraine’s northeast in a new front in the war. But rather than wishing to seize the country’s second-largest city there, Putin claimed his forces are creating a buffer zone to prevent long-range Ukrainian attacks across the frontier.
“When it comes to what is happening around Kharkiv, that is their fault too because they have been shelling and sadly continue to target residential neighbourhoods in the border areas, including Belgorod,” Putin told reporters on a state visit to China.
“And I said publicly that if this continues, we will be forced to create a security zone, a buffer zone. This is what we are doing.”
Asked if Moscow had planned to seize control of Kharkiv, he replied: “As for Kharkiv, there are no such plans as of today.”
Russian forces have advanced as far as six miles since small groups of mobile units crossed over the border last week.
Putin’s remarks came after talks with Mr Xi, who called on Thursday for an “early” resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.
“China hopes for the early return of Europe to peace and stability and will continue to play a constructive role toward this,” he told the assembled media in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
Chinese calls for peace
It was the first time the Chinese president appeared to direct his words to his Russian counterpart, though not the first time China has called for peace.
In February last year, it published a 12-point peace plan setting out general principles for ending the war but without specifics.
Mr Xi reiterated China’s proposal for “the timely convening of an international peace conference endorsed by Russia and Ukraine, with the equal participation of all parties, and a fair discussion of all proposals.”
The Russian leader praised Beijing for trying to end the conflict in Ukraine and said he was willing to hold peace talks. He blamed the West for sinking a ceasefire deal that had been worked up by Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Turkey in 2022.
“They wanted to gain the advantage on the battlefield, achieve strategic defeat but it didn’t work out,” he said of the West and Ukraine. “Are they sick in the head?”
Putin described the aborted Istanbul peace deal, which would have seen Ukraine commit to not joining Nato and significantly downsizing its armed forces, as the possible basis for peace, repeating previous talking points.
In recent months, with Russia making gains on the battlefield, Putin has repeatedly claimed Moscow is prepared to hold peace talks with Kyiv.
“Of course, we shall proceed from the reality taking shape on the ground. That goes without saying,” Putin said.
But these calls have been dismissed by Ukrainian and Western officials, who believe the Russian president is not genuine in his apparent push for negotiations.
Kyiv and some 50 countries, including Ukraine’s most ardent Western allies, will meet for a peace summit in the Swiss resort of Burgenstock next month.
Putin said the conference was designed to pressure Moscow into agreeing an ultimatum, but signalled he was ready to engage with the event.
“But we are ready to discuss [peace] – we never refused to,” he said.
On Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said Russian troops had only managed to reach the first of Ukraine’s three lines of defence in the Kharkiv region.
“Today, our defence forces have stabilised the Russians where they are located,” he said after a visit to Kharkiv on Thursday. “The deepest point of their advance is 10km.”
“We understand that there will be tough battles ahead and the enemy is preparing for it,” Gen Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief said on Friday, adding that Russia had so far failed to break through those defences.
Ukraine has attempted to halt Russian advances in Kharkiv by sending reinforcements, but its commanders are wary that this could open up new gaps in other parts of the front.
Mr Zelensky also criticised the US for blocking Ukrainian troops from using Western weapons to hit Russian territory.
“I do not think that there should be any prohibitions because this is not about the Ukrainian offensive using Western weapons on the territory of Russia,” the Ukrainian president was quoted as saying by Pravda news.
Russia has focused its main efforts on Vovchansk, according to Oleg Synegubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, who accused Moscow’s forces of attempting to “destroy” the Ukrainian border town.
“The enemy has actually started to destroy the city. It is not just dangerous to be there, but impossible,” he told reporters.
The official added that Moscow was now gaining ground near Lukyantsi, a village much further west that Kyiv pulled back from earlier this week amid heavy fire.
