Putin vows to persist with strikes in Ukraine, ignoring West

The Kremlin says it’s up to Ukraine’s president to end the conflict in the country, suggesting terms that Kyiv has repeatedly rejected, while Russian President Vladimir Putin vows to press on with the fighting despite Western criticism.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “knows when it may end, it may end tomorrow if he wishes so.”

The Kremlin has long said that Ukraine must accept Russian conditions to end the fighting, which is now in its tenth month. It has demanded that Kyiv recognize Crimea — a Ukrainian peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014 — as part of Russia and also recognize other land gains made by Moscow.

Putin says Russia will achieve the declared goals in Ukraine regardless of Western reactions, at a meeting with soldiers.

“It’s enough for us to make a move and there is a lot of noise, chatter and outcry all across the universe,” Putin says. “It will not obstruct us from fulfilling combat tasks.”