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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that a freeze on the war would only allow Putin to rearm.
By CORINNE BAUM DECEMBER 20, 2024 04:50
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with journalist Pavel Zarubin after his annual televised year-end press conference and phone-in held in Moscow, Russia December 19, 2024.
(photo credit: Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via REUTERS)
Moscow should have invaded Ukraine sooner, Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted at his annual press conference in Moscow on Thursday.
"Such a decision, which was made at the beginning of 2022, should have been made earlier," Putin said at a marathon press conference. He added that it should have been "necessary" to prepare for the operation but that Russia couldn't "endure" the situation.
"The events in Crimea were spontaneous, and the events of 2022 were also started without any special preparation. Why did we start? Because it was no longer possible to stand still and endure, waiting for the situation to worsen for us," Putin claimed, as reported by TASS.
"They forced us into these actions. If we had known in advance what would happen, of course, it would have been necessary to conduct thorough, systematic preparation."
Putin covered a wide variety of topics during the four-hour-long press conference, including relations with Syria and Israel's involvement.
The Kremlin chief claimed that "the main beneficiary of the events taking place in Syria is, in my opinion, Israel," as reported by TASS.
Putin also claimed that critics of the Russian Orthodox Church are "people with no faith at all, godless individuals. They are ethnic Jews, but who has seen them in a synagogue?"
Heightening tensions
His statements come in the midst of racketing military tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Putin
The Russian president challenged Ukraine and the West to a "high-tech duel" at the conference, claiming that if the West had any doubts about Russia's Oreshnik hypersonic missile, they could pick an area in Kyiv to concentrate defense forces around and then attempt to intercept the missile.
"We are ready for such an experiment," Putin stated.
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In stark contrast, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Putin's threats were reckless.
People are dying, and he thinks it’s “interesting”... Dumbass. pic.twitter.com/JyJ9ok0fok
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 19, 2024"People are dying, and he thinks it’s 'interesting.' Dumb*ss," he wrote in a post on X/Twitter.
On Thursday, Russia carried out a massive cyber attack on Ukraine's state registries, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna said.
"Today, the largest external cyber attack in recent times occurred with Ukraine's state registries," Stefanishyna wrote on Facebook. "As a result of this targeted attack, the work of the unified and state registries, which are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, was temporarily suspended."
Stefanishyna said it was clear the attack was "carried out by the Russians to disrupt the work of the country's critically important infrastructure" and that all targeted infrastructure would be restored in two weeks, Stefanishyna said.
The attack came after Kyiv claimed responsibility for the killing of Russian Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the commander of the Russian army's chemical, radiological and biological weapons unit, on Tuesday.
Recently, British Defense Minister John Healey discussed sending British military instructors to Ukraine, according to BBC sources in the British Defense Ministry. However, Healey said that all plans would have to stay " let's say, unavailable to President Putin."
Ceasefire near?
While Ukrainian military officials have been trained in the UK since the war's onset, Britain has not sent soldiers to assist Kyiv out of fear of direct confrontation with Russia and of potentially broadening the war.
There have been greater reports on ceasefire efforts between the two nations. Previously, US President-elect Donald Trump claimed that he could end the conflict in a matter of hours. Experts believe that this could not happen without an effective freeze to the conflict, meaning Kyiv could lose large amounts of territory.
“We cannot live with a frozen conflict," Zelensky said at a meeting of the European Council in Brussels on Thursday. "When it comes to ceasefire, people know what comes after, how everything will end. You have to know what tomorrow brings in order to have a ceasefire.”
In contrast, TASS reported that the Kremlin Chief said he would speak with Trump regarding a deal.
"I am ready for it [a conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump] at any time, of course. And I will also be ready for a meeting if he wants it."
"We don’t need a ceasefire; we need peace – long-term, durable, and guaranteed for the Russian Federation and its citizens. This is a complex issue – how to ensure these guarantees. But overall, it’s something we can explore," he said, according to TASS.
Zelensky emphasized that he believed that Putin was expressing interest in order to rearm and attack Ukraine more aggressively.
“We need coordinated work for a lasting peace, not just the suspension of hostilities that Putin seeks in order to buy time."
According to the Kyiv Independent, the EU does not anticipate such talks happening any time in the future.
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