Putin Warns He Will Achieve Aims in Ukraine Through Negotiation or War
The Kremlin leader called European leaders backing Ukraine ‘piglets’ who wanted to feed on Russia’s collapse
Dec. 17, 2025 The Wall Street Journal
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow would achieve its goals in Ukraine either through diplomacy or on the battlefield, days after U.S. and European officials met with Ukraine’s leadership to try to hammer out a deal to end nearly four years of war.
Speaking to Defense Ministry officials, Putin lashed out against the previous Biden administration’s stance toward Russia and called European leaders backing Ukraine “piglets” who wanted to feast on the collapse of Russia.
Putin’s speech on Wednesday signaled that the Trump administration’s push to clinch a peace deal hasn’t changed the Kremlin’s war aims in Ukraine. Those include permanently blocking Ukraine’s path to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, limiting the size of its military and exerting influence over the country’s political future.
“The goals of the special military operation will undoubtedly be achieved,” Putin said, using the Russian euphemism for the war. “If the opposing side and their foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive discussions, Russia will achieve the liberation of its historical lands through military means.”
Putin has sought to engage in President Trump’s peace process, but has stopped short of making any meaningful concessions.
Since Trump embraced a 28-point peace plan last month, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have gone to Moscow to talk with Putin over the terms of a peace deal. The two also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders in Berlin earlier this week.
Trump said earlier in the week that the biggest issue at the moment was getting Russia and Ukraine on the same page regarding talks.
“At this moment, Russia wants to get in and the problem is they’ll want to get it ended, and then all of a sudden they won’t, and Ukraine will want to get it ended, and all of a sudden they won’t,” Trump said earlier in the week.
At the meeting Wednesday, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov gave Putin an update on the situation on the front line, telling the Kremlin leader that Russian forces held a series of newly captured Ukrainian towns and cities in the eastern part of the country. Control over them, however, is disputed, and Zelensky visited one of the cities, Kupyansk, last week to disprove Russian claims.
In a nod to how important military production has become to the Russian economy, Putin said that defense expenditures accounted for more than 7% of the country’s GDP last year.
While those expenditures have fueled some economic growth, they have also put a strain on the country’s budget, leading to funding cuts for some social programs like preferential mortgages. The economy is expected to grow just 0.6% this year, the International Monetary Fund said earlier this year.
Much of Putin’s speech consisted of saber rattling, praising what the Kremlin has called successful tests of its most recent arms developments. Those include the Burevestnik, a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable cruise missile that can travel for unlimited distances and the Poseidon, which is a nuclear-powered torpedo meant to cause a radioactive tsunami off a target country. Experts have questioned the efficacy of both.
Putin also said it would begin deploying its hypersonic, medium-range and nuclear-capable Oreshnik missiles by the end of the year. The missile has been used once in Ukraine.
Ahead of Putin’s annual call-in, a televised event in which he takes questions from Russians across the country’s 11 time zones, the Kremlin leader has boosted his visibility—as well as his promises to boost healthcare, rehabilitation and employment for veterans returning from the front.
Write to Thomas Grove at thomas.grove@wsj.com
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Appeared in the December 18, 2025, print edition as 'Putin Vows To Win Through Diplomacy Or War'.