Russian President Vladimir Putin has renewed controversial claims about Ukraine’s territorial integrity, suggesting that the country could eventually lose parts of its western regions to neighboring states.
Speaking during a public appearance, Putin argued that territories in western Ukraine were incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Republic by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin after World War II, when they were part of the Soviet Union.
“Apparently, Stalin never imagined that a situation like today’s could arise,” Putin said.
He went on to claim that Ukraine would “sooner or later” lose these territories and asserted that areas once controlled by Poland, Hungary, and Romania would “historically return to where they belong.”
Putin also repeated his longstanding assertion that Russia did not initiate the war in Ukraine, insisting that Moscow is merely responding to actions by Kyiv.
“We are responding to the actions of Ukraine, which started the hostilities with the support of the West,” he said.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a move widely condemned by the United Nations, Western governments, and much of the international community as an act of aggression and a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Putin’s latest remarks come as the war continues with no comprehensive peace agreement in sight, while territorial issues remain among the most contentious obstacles to any future diplomatic settlement.
