Putin’s plan to ‘declare victory’ within days
Emboldened by Donald Trump, Ukraine has claimed that Russia plans to “declare victory” and it wants to paint Europe as “enemies of peace”.
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Seemingly emboldened by Donald Trump’s rhetoric, Russia wants to declare “victory” over Ukraine and NATO as soon as Monday, according to reports.
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, the HUR, has claimed The Kremlin has instructed “propagandists” to promote “victorious” narratives on the three year anniversary of the invasion, on February 24.
The US and Russia are beginning peace talks regarding the war in Ukraine – notably with little input from Ukraine itself – and they are unlikely to be finished by Monday.
Moscow also wants to be seen as being “constructive” with negotiations, the HUR said, in an effort to not be seen as an “aggressor” and “war criminal” while it encourages the view of European nations supporting Ukraine as the real “enemies of peace”.
Moscow is happier than it’s been for some time with the Trump administration conceding key demands to Russia before negotiations even began and floating a possible summit between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Mr Trump.
These included Ukraine not joining NATO and no US troops in Ukraine.
That’s fuelled concerns Putin may try to extract even more concessions out of the US and Ukraine than he had originally been expecting too.
Putin will also be cheered by a feud that has erupted between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Ukrainian leader has said that Mr Trump is surrounded by a “Russian disinformation bubble” while Mr Trump has said his counterpart in Kyiv is a “dictator” for not holding an election during the middle of a war.
On Friday, US time, Mr Trump told Fox News Mr Zelensky had “no cards” to negotiate with, was “not important” at meetings discussing his own country and Putin could take all Ukraine if “he wanted”.
Russia wants to ‘declare victory’
Russia’s progress in the war has ebbed and flowed. It has failed to capture Ukraine but does occupy about 20 per cent of the country.
But Ukraine’s intelligence services said Moscow wanted to present its incursion as a success.
“Russia is preparing to declare an alleged ‘victory’ in the war against Ukraine by … February 24, 2025, the third anniversary of the beginning of the full-scale war,” the HUR wrote on social media site Telegram.
“Moreover, these plans may also include a ‘Russian victory over NATO,’ as Muscovite propaganda has long described the war against Ukraine as a war with the Alliance”.
Russia and NATO are not at war. But NATO nations have heavily supported Ukraine in its efforts to repel Moscow’s troops.
The HUR added that The Kremlin was “stepping up efforts to incite disbelief among Ukrainian society, destabilise the situation inside our country and discredit Ukraine among partner states that provide critical military assistance”.
Messages Moscow wants repeated
Kyiv’s intelligence service said Russia was trying to sew several narratives of “hostile information”.
These included: “The West betrayed Ukraine,” “Neither Moscow nor Washington cares about the opinion of Europeans and Ukrainians,” “the United States and Russia agreed on everything behind Ukraine’s back,” “The Ukrainian government is illegitimate,” “The Ukrainian army is losing at the front,” and “Corrupt officials are stealing billions of dollars in American aid from Ukraine”.
Elon Musk has doubled down on claims Mr Zelensky is illegitimate. On his social media platform X, he said Mr Zelensky didn’t want to hold an election because “he knows he would lose in a landslide” because he is “despised” by Ukrainians.
Polls in Ukraine show Mr Zelensky’s popularity is over 50 per cent, higher than for Mr Trump. An election should have been held last May but the Ukrainian constitution bars elections during conflicts.
“One of the key goals of the Kremlin’s new propaganda methodologies is to cover the status of an aggressor and war criminal isolated by the civilised world with the cloak of a supposedly ready for peaceful settlement “constructive side of the conflict,” the HUR posted.
“Russian special services attack, in particular, Ukraine’s partners in Europe, who do not refuse, but rather increase their support for our country.
“For such European governments, the Kremlin uses the stamp ‘enemies of peace’”.
Trump again dismisses Ukraine
Talking to Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade on Friday, Mr Trump was again dismissive of Mr Zelensky – although in slightly less angry terms.
“I’ve been watching for years, and I’ve been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards. And you get sick of it. And I’ve had it.
“(Mr Zelensky’s) been at a meeting for three years, and nothing got done.
“So, I don’t think he’s very important to be at meetings, to be honest with you. He makes it very hard to make deals,” Mr Trump said.
When pushed, Mr Trump did concede it was Russia that attacked Ukraine. But he also said Putin could take all of Ukraine – which he hasn’t done in three years of fighting.
“He wants to make a deal. And he doesn’t have to make a deal, because if he wanted, he’d get the whole country.”
US may refuse to condemn Russia
Elsewhere, it’s been reported that the US may refuse to sign on to a United Nations resolution condemning Russia on the war’s anniversary.
“In previous years, the United States has consistently co-sponsored such resolutions in support of a just peace in Ukraine,” a source told news agency Reuters.
Additionally it’s also been claimed that the US is trying is tone down the language in a statement about Russia from the G7 group of leading Western economies – a group Russia used it be part of before it invaded Ukraine’s Crimea and Donbass regions in 2014.
The UK’s Financial Times has said the US wants the word “aggressor” removed in relation to Russia.
While Ukraine’s Mr Zelensky is being labelled a “dictator” by Mr Trump, he received praise from the US ‘special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg.
The pair met in Kyiv last week with Ukraine keen to shape any peace process and push for security guarantees from the US to deter future Russian aggression.
On X, Mr Kellogg said he’d had “extensive and positive discussions with (Mr Zelensky), the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war, and his talented national security team”.
After his spat with Mr Trump, Mr Zelensky said his meeting with the US envoy “restored hope”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been leading talks with Russia, has said a Trump-Putin meeting is possible but it would depend on the progress of those talks.
“You don’t generally have these meetings until you know some outcome, or some progress has been made”.
He added, however, that Mr Trump was “rightfully upset,” with Mr Zelensky’s barbs – but that the US did “care about Ukraine”.
Ukraine has reportedly sent to the US a new proposal for a deal to exploit its natural resources.
Mr Zelensky rejected an initial US drafted agreement that would have seen vast amounts of money from Ukraine head to America – more than the US has given Ukraine in aid and military assistance.
That plan also included no funding for future weapons and assistance.
Originally published as Putin’s plan to ‘declare victory’ within days
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